Serena's Hidden Tail
by DeadGirlEtarnal
Summary: This is going to be set out much like the movie but with a few twists. I OWN NOTHING BUT MY OC.
1. Serena Meets Howl

**I** **looked in the mirror at myself, the mirror itself was simple just the mirror on a wooden stand that was my whole room I could describe. Simple. That was how it was I wasn't into anything grand like my little sister Lettie who worked at the bakery in town. I remembered Sophie telling me she wished to visit, I wasn't too fussed to be completely honest. Lettie and I never got along even as children, sibling rivalry but as Sophie was my twin we were close as two pieces of thread.**

 **Anyway back to myself, I was getting ready to go out to visit Lettie with Sophie as I saw no reason to make an effort for anyone I just kept my hair up in a simple ponytail and as it's chocolate brown curls flowed down to my neck. I never thought to wear makeup so I kept it all natural and with my piercing green eyes that shined brighter in the sun, no real reason and with my naturally ruby red lips, knew made Lettie jealous. My skin like Sophie's was pale but it wasn't the sickly kind. My outfit was the same as Sophie's I liked it, it was a dark blue dress going down to the floor showing the black tips of my boots, the sleeves went to my wrists and the material was just simple cotton and silk. It just fit me with no tightness in any area and I wore the necklace that belonged to my late father, The necklace itself wasn't anything special it was what it represented, the love between a father and daughter, the necklace was made of a gold chain and the pendant was in the shape of a heart with an engraving on the back saying 'Be Loved Forever'. I kept it with me always and with the neckline on all my dresses, I could show it off as it was just slightly above my bosom which to Sophie's dislike as she practically dressed as a nun. "Serena!" Sophie shouted up the stairs at me like most mornings. I grumbled not liking this one bit so I took my coat which was a plain black with silver buttons and fastened them up and trudged down the steps to see Sophie put on her stupid straw hat with a red ribbon on it.**

 **"Well, are we going or not?" I asked her hoping she had changed her mind.**

 **"No, we are going," Sophie said determination in her voice.**

 **"Fine," I grumbled and we set out of the shop front doors, Sophie ran, I wasn't a part of it as I more enjoyed books, my room was full of them but the shop was fathers. She and I were daddy girls, that seemed to be the only thing we had in common as we didn't look the same as Sophie always had her dark brown hair in a braid with a pink bow to tie it up and she had brown eyes that were dull and boring but our skin was both pale with a slight glow but she was wearing a green dress that showed her brown boots and hid her neck completely like I said she dressed like a nun.**

 **I looked outside to see the cobbled streets full of soldiers and people it was stupid as we had to take the dark, smelly back streets of our fair town because of the May Day Parade going on with planes and banners littering the sky. As we walked I was thinking deeply about the visit to the bakery to see our over excited and neurotic little sister Lettie. I was so in thought with the dread of seeing the little monster I had realised I must have gone down the wrong turn in the alleyway losing Sophie in the process. I knew where I was but it meant passing some soldiers which didn't seem to be such a good idea as I couldn't turn back as they had already spotted me. "Hey looks like a little puppy has lost its way." The Younger Soldier getting right into my face giving me a whiff of drink on his breath which was beginning to bug me beyond all comprehension.**

 **"I'm not lost, I know where I am going," I argued trying to get past them.**

 **"This pup looks thirsty. We should take her for a cup of tea." The Younger Soldier smirks at me trying to intimidate me but it wasn't working whatsoever.**

 **"No thank you, my sisters are expecting me. And I have to find my twin so if you'll excuse me." I tell them trying to get past them again but it draws the attention of another one this one slightly older and with a moustache.**

 **"She's pretty cute for a pup." The Newer Soldier said getting a good look at my face his moustache twitching. I again tried stepping away but it didn't seem to be working.**

 **"How old are you anyway? You live around here?" The Newer Soldier one asked me.**

 **"Leave me alone," I told him trying to stay static but in the inside, I was frightened.**

 **"You see? Your Mustache scares all the girls." The Younger Soldier teased his friend.**

 **"So? She's even cuter when she's scared." He taunted me looking at me with curiosity.**

 **"Don't think so mister, excuse -" I started but I was cut off by a large man's hand placed on my left shoulder. I tensed slightly at this new development.**

 **"There you are, sweetheart. Sorry, I'm late. I was looking everywhere for you. Are you ready to go?" The Man asked me smoothly, never missing a beat. I looked over my shoulder at the stranger to be meet with a gorgeous man with shoulder length bright blond hair glistening in the sun with messy bangs similar to my own, who's red and grey jacket hung haphazardly on his shoulders. I didn't realize that I was staring into his bright ocean blue eyes.**

 **"Hey, we're busy here." The Younger Soldier interrupted pulling me away from my gaze at the stranger snapping my head forward.**

 **"Are you really? It looked to me like the two of you were just leaving." The Stranger said and I could hear the grin in his voice. He lifted his finger, the two soldiers straightened forcefully and began to march away without control of their own bodies. I glanced back at them curiously getting the better of me then my attention was brought back to the stranger that saved me, and who still had his hand on my shoulder. "Don't hold it against them." He told me with a wink and a crooked grin. "They're actually not all that bad. Where to? I'll be your escort this evening." He tells me without saying his name.**

 **"I'm fine, I was heading to the bakery," I tell him and we begin to walk down the dark alleyway.**

 **"Don't be alarmed but I'm being followed. Act normal." He informed me. Sorry but if I don't get alarmed something is seriously wrong. He moved his arm so that my hand was around his bicep I clutched onto it as my heart began to pick up incredible speed as I heard strange sounds from behind us. "Sorry. Looks like you're involved. He said as I gasp for air tightening my grip on his arm as some strange black blob creatures with stupid hats began to appear from the walls behind us. "This way." He constructed with a slight grin on his handsome face. I couldn't of pick a worse time to focus on that but I vaguely heard him tell me to hold on as more of those blob creatures appeared in front of us and his arm slipped its way down to my waist as we took off abruptly into the sky. "Now, straighten your legs and start walking." He tells me, moving his hands intertwined with mine as I began walking in the air, he walked with such grace and flamboyance it was hard to match but I began to get the hang of it. "See, not so hard, is it?" He laughed and as I began to get match his status slightly I began to feel amazing and laughed with him. We came to the bakery that Lettie worked at and we slowly floated down and landed on the balcony below and he took me down with such grace as my feet landed on the wooden floor. "I'll make sure to draw them off." He tells as he kept my hands intertwined with his. "But wait a bit before you head back outside." He instructed.**

 **"Of course," I replied in a dazed state as he finally let go of my hand it felt cold and alone without his warm soft hand.**

 **"That's my girl." He said with a grin before he flew back off the balcony railing and floated quickly back to the ground below. I gasped, leaning over the railing, but he had already disappeared. I stood there just thinking would I ever see him again?**


	2. Serena Meets The Witch of The Waste

**I stood in the hallway of the top floor of the bakery, I kept gazing into nothing till I was ripped from my daydream, I heard my name being called. "Serena!" One was worry, the other was just nothing, I knew it was my sister. They raced to me at the end of the hallway as they reached me, Sophie hugged me close to her as Lettie was standing awkwardly to the side as I was squashed into Sophie. "What's going on? Someone just told us you floated down onto our balcony." Lettie interrupted our short reunion. I really do not like her and all her makeup.**

 **"So that did really happen, it wasn't a dream after all," I replied in a haze.**

 **"Lettie, would you like to use my office?" A man asks her from behind us.**

 **"I should really get back to work. Thank you, though," Lettie lies to him, she had no intention of going to back to work, she waves him off with a flirty smile on her red covered lips. The man must have gone back inside as the door closed.**

 **Lettie and Sophie lead me down the hallway and some steps, we were in the back room of the kitchen of the bakery, Sophie helped me to sit down as I was still so ridged from the shock.**

 **I started telling them what had happened to me since splitting with Sophie in the alleyway. "Wow. He must have been a wizard then." Lettie commented while I looked to Sophie for help at Lettie's stupidity. I knew he was a wizard, it was the only answer.**

 **"But he was so kind to me," I argue with her trying to get through to her what had happened. "He rescued me, Lettie," I tell her trying to get off the fact I could feel my face getting warm. Must be coming down with a cold.**

 **"Of course he did. He was trying to steal your heart!" Lettie almost screams at me, "You are so lucky, Serena. If that wizard were Howl he would've eaten it." Lettie told me looking stern in the face, not worried.**

 **"No, he wouldn't. Howl only does that to beautiful girls." I mumble, I never liked how I look, I was always indoors reading a good book, not out like Lettie, alway looking for the next man or wearing too much makeup that I almost tilt over from the sheer volume.**

 **"Don't give me that," Sophie said sternly at me, she was always there for me as I was for her.**

 **"You two need to be more careful. Even the Witch of The Waste is back on the prowl," Lettie tells us like she really cared, but I was too lost in thought about the wizard who saved me. "Are you listening to me, Serena?" She asks, I just nod not really caring.**

 **"Lettie, the chocolate eclairs are done." A man informs Lettie, moving one of the crates we were sitting on, sticking his head through.**

 **"Ok, I'll be right there." She replies with a smile plastered on her face, he moves his head out of the hole, putting the crate back in, I look at Lettie to see she still has a smile on her face. Sophie and I get up from the crates getting ready to work.**

 **"I just wanted to make sure that you were doing okay," Sophie tells Lettie, I just nodded along, she hugs Sophie first, moving onto me, I rigidly hugged her back.**

 **She walks us out the back of the factory, with a man walking past carrying a sack of flour over his shoulder, greeting my sister cheerfully. "Now Sophie, do you and Serena really want to spend the rest of your lives in that hat shop?" Lettie asks us with a stern face like Mother pulls when she thinks she's asking a serious question.**

 **"Leave it be Lettie, we're fine and it was important to Father besides we're the eldest, we don't mind," I tell her looking at Sophie, the way it worked for us was Sophie making the hats and me keeping everything afloat with the money and books.**

 **"I'm not asking what Father would have wanted. I want to know what you want." Lettie asks looking at us both.**

 **"Well…" Both Sophie and I start off but the delivery man walks past again voicing his farewells stopping us as we begin to leave again. "We'd better be going, it'll be getting dark soon." I change the subject taking Sophie's arm walking away half dragging Sophie behind me.**

 **"It's your life Sophie, Serena. Do something for yourself for once." Lettie tells us like we didn't already know that.**

 **"Bye Lettie." We call behind as we walk away waving to her, our backs still to her.**

 **We make it to the station just in time to catch our tram back to the hat shop, I look out the window to the glorified city, thinking about that mysterious wizard that rescued me. I know it was foolish to think but I wanted to see him again, I wanted to just thank him for the amazing things he'd done for me, saving me from those soldiers and showing me the site of the city from a bird's eye view, I wish I could do it again, I felt like something amazing was going to happen.**

 **I was plucked from my daydream as Sophie dragged me off the tram to our street.**

 **We made it to the hat shop, I took my keys out of my coat pocket unlocking the door we went inside turning the lights on as I locked to door behind us. I put my keys into my coat pocket again taking it off hanging it on the hook by the desk, I see Sophie looking in the mirror again, huffing at her so called boring looks, I walk over to her standing next to her. "Nothing wrong with you Soph," I tell her putting my hand on her shoulder in comfort, our moment was ruined by the sound of the shop bell, Sophie moves to the desk to blow out the candle she had lit not moment ago, I turn to see a large woman wearing all black and a big hat walk into the shop. The large woman looks around the shop raising her arched eyebrows with disgust written all over her ugly mug. "I'm sorry, but the shop's closed now, ma'am," Sophie informs the woman politely with her straw hat in her hands, she was the nice twin, I was the straightforward twin, I didn't deal with customers I was more behind the scenes than anything.**

 **"I could have sworn I just locked that door. Must have forgotten again." I comment knowing I had, something strange was going on. The large woman steps further inside the shop more vulgar looks past over her ugly face.**

 **"What a tacky shop. I've never seen such tacky little hats." She comments looking around, I stiffen, my sister slaved over this place, we both did, this big woman wasn't gonna get away with saying that. "Yet you two are by far the tackiest things here." I clenched my hands into fists and ground my teeth together, I know I wasn't allowed to interact with the customers but I was about to waver that rule but before I can even take a step Sophie marches towards the door and the large woman, she holds the shop door open for the big lady.**

 **"I'm afraid you'll have to leave now. The door's over here, ma'am. We're closed." Sophie says firmly to the lady, I was so proud of my sister, I almost smiled.**

 **"Standing up to the Witch of the Waste, that's plucky." The woman announces as both Sophie and I step back, something bad is about to happen and this was it.**

 **"The Witch of the Waste?" I ask scared about what was going to happen to me and my twin, two of those blob creatures sluggishly walk in the shop door fully clothed. The Witch becomes transparent and flies through Sophie.**

 **"Sophie?" I call as I rush towards her, checking to see how she was as the Witch was by the doorway again.**

 **"The best part of that spell is you can't tell anyone about it," She tells us with a smirk on her grubby lips, she looks at me and I feel a shiver run down my spine as I felt her her coming towards me. "I can't forget about you." She says looking at me, I stare into her eyes as she walks towards me, I stand my ground trying to not tremble, she raises her arm, and pats me on the head, I fell to the floor as everything begins to fade slightly. "Well, you'll be lucky if you can talk at all." I hear her say as everything turns black. "Send my regards to Howl."**


	3. Serena Meets Calcifer

**Sophie crawls up the stairs carefully, as I wait for her at the top, we go further into the place to the hearth where the fire was roaring with life. I hop onto the side near the roaring fire with Sophie behind me, she picks up a log and throws it onto the fire making it brighter, she gets the chair pulling it forward, she sits down and puts her hands near the fire to get warm.**

 **"What a dump. When I think castle, this is not what I picture." Sophie states looking around the place, I look around at the place seeing the state the place is in. "Well, one thing nice about getting old is nothing frightens you." She sinks further into the chair, sighing as she closes her eyes, I bow my head to the platform beginning to lie down fully.**

 **"I don't envy you, lady. That is one bad curse. Curses are tough. You're gonna have a very hard time getting rid of that one," A voice suddenly came from nowhere and I shoot up onto my four paws with a growl on guard. "Down dog." I look around and stare at the fire, it had eyes and a mouth, it was alive. I glare at the flame growling at the disrespect.**

 **"The fire spoke!" Sophie yells in shock stunned, her eyes wide and her body stiffens.**

 **"Let me guess, the curse won't allow you to talk about it, right?" It asks her.**

 **"Are you Howl?" Sophie asks it. Yeah right, like that was Howl.**

 **"No, I'm an extremely powerful fire demon named Calcifer." He tells us, flame flaming from his mouth. "I just like to do that once in awhile." He says I get into a pouncing position growling at him.**

 **"A fire demon. Well, then you should be able to break our curses." Sophie tells him.**

 **"Maybe, maybe not," He says, holding his fire arms up in a shrug like motion. "Listen, if you can find a way to break the spell that's on me, then I'll break the spell on you, you got it?" Calcifer promises Sophie, was I 's it.**

 **"Hey, I'm here too you know, I have a spell on me too, she's not the only one here with a problem so open your eyes flame brain," I yell at him, he seems shocked at my outburst like he didn't know I could talk.**

 **"Well, that's strange," Calcifer comments.**

 **"Serena, I told you not to speak to anyone you might freak them out." Sophie scolds me.**

 **"Sophie, he's a fire demon, I think it would be ridiculous to freak him out," I tell her.**

 **"Anyway, I could try breaking it, but I think it'd do much good, you'd still turn into a dog or have dog ears and a tail for life," Calcifer says.**

 **"If you are a demon, how do we know we can trust you," I ask him, I glare at him. "You promise to help us if we help you?"**

 **"I don't know pup. Demons don't make promises."**

 **"No, they normally make contracts or deals." I grin at him, Calcifer looks at me winking at me.**

 **"How'd you know that?" Calcifer asks me.**

 **"I read it in a book," I tell him.**

 **"You should have this figured out in no time at all," Calcifer says looking at me.**

 **"Go find someone else," Sophie frowns at him.**

 **"Come on! You should feel sorry for me!" He cries out, waving his arms around erratically then clasps them together pleading. "The spell keeps me stuck in this castle, and Howl treats me like I'm his slave. It burns me up. You've got to keep hot, the rooms warm, keep the castle moving." He rants as Sophie seems to have fallen asleep.**

 **"Oh, that's rough," Sophie mutters under her breath.**

 **"Come on, you ever try to move a castle? If you can figure out how to break this thing I'm in with Howl, then you can break my spell," He says. "After that, I can easily break the spell that's on you." He tries reasoning, I want to help him if I can become human even for a day again I would be so happy, I want to help Sophie too.**

 **"All right, it's a deal," Sophie tells him before falling asleep, I walk over to her, smiling.**

 **"Hey, lady? Lady? Hello? Lady? Hello?" Calcifer calls out, rising in his crate to get a better look at her sleeping form. "Hey, hey, hey! Lady? Lady? Hey, let me get over there." He tries reaching for Sophie, I look at him smirking. "Some big help you're gonna be."**

 **"She can't help it, we did walk from the nearby town, and she was turned into an old woman," I tell him.**

 **"Can you say who did it?" He asks.**

 **"The-the… I can't say it." I try saying. "That's annoying."**

 **"Sorry pup,"**

 **"Don't call me pup," I growl at him, hopping down from the hearth, I walk towards the couch, jumping up onto the dusty pillows.**

 **"Have a good night's sleep," Calcifer says, I look up at him.**

 **"I will," I tell him, I do the weird dog thing they do, spinning around before settling down. "That was weird right?" I ask him.**

 **"Yeah, why'd you do that?" He asks.**

 **"I've seen other dogs do it before, I wanted to try it out," I tell him. "Good night Calcifer." I close my eyes, I see a figure of a young boy I've seen so many times yet still blurry and I see a bright light.**


	4. Serena Meets Howl Again

**It was the same blond that saved me from those annoying soldiers, dammit it was Howl. "Master Howl, the King's messengers were here," Markl tells him as he walks into the room. "They said you have to report to the palace as both Pendragon and Jenkins." I look at Sophie, shaking my head to point to Howl, she just looked at me in confusion. I sigh looking at her in disappointment before she went back to cooking the bacon.**

 **"Calcifer?" Howl smiles in amusement. "You're being so obedient."**

 **"Not on purpose. That dog bullied me." Cal complains and Howl looks towards me, I look all innocent playing Cal for a fool. "I'm not joking." I look at Howl, god was he wonderful.**

 **"I can't not talk, it was me, I bullied Cal into making food, I was hungry," I speak finally, I look around at the others and laugh. "Just a talking dog here nothing odd at all." I joke getting Howl to laugh slightly.**

 **"Not just anybody could bully Calcifer?" He compliments me. "And you are… Who?" He asks, turning towards Sophie.**

 **"Uh, you can just call me Grandma Sophie. I'm your new cleaning lady. I just started work today." She tells him seeming nervous. "Serena came with me." She nods towards me and he nods in understanding.**

 **"Give that to me," Howl says gently, he slides into Sophie's place and takes the wooden spoon from her. "I believe you want some too?" He asks me and I nod at him watching him cook. "Hand me three more slices of that bacon and eight more of those eggs." He directs and Sophie hesitates for a second before handing over the plate of bacon and she handed the eggs over to him. As he cracked the eggs he fed them to Cal, he ate them happily. "So, then, who hired you to clean?" Howl asks Sophie as she looks more nervous for us, well more herself.**

 **"Cal did. He's disgusted by how dirty it is in here." I jump in saving Sophie from her stutter fest. He hummed to himself in response then asks Markl to get the plates for us.**

 **"Wait a second, you're all gonna eat while I do all the work?" Cal rants.**

 **"You did eat the eggshells, I had the impression that you could do everything," I remark.**

 **"That's so kind thank you, Serena." Cal blushes as I jump off the hearth to the table. I jump onto the top of the table, sitting waiting for my food. Howl slides over my plate, Markl passes me a bowl of water as I look at it with annoyance as I was to forever maybe drink everything from a bowl. Gross.**

 **"Which do you want? You can only get one 'cause the rest are dirty." Markl asks, holding two spoons and a fork to Sophie, he was so cute looking all innocent.**

 **"Looks like I've got my work cut out for me," Sophie mutters to herself, Howl hands out slices of bread to all of us. I begin to eat my food trying to avoid anything on my face as it would be a pain to get off and Sophie would have to give me a bath, I wasn't ready to have that embarrassing moment. I look up at Howl to see him looking at me, he seems to have a look of pity on his handsome face and I never really liked people pitying me. "Even the manners are a mess in this house," She says quietly as Markl digs into his food hastily.**

 **"So, what do you have hidden in your pocket, Sophie?" Howl asks suddenly, I look at her confused. She paused in eating her food, she lets her egg drop back onto her plate before she sets her spoon down and reaches into her pocket to reveal a red folded card.**

 **"What is this?" Sophie asks confused.**

 **"Give it to me," Howl says to her, she shrugs, handing over the red card. The card sparks into small flames as it touches Howl's hand, I jump up growling at the flames. It opens as it falls to the surface, it disappears revealing a mark on the tables appearing like scorch marks. Markl gasps in shock, leaning over in his chair to get a better look, I lie on my stomach looking down my nose at the scorch mark.**

 **"Scorch marks. Howl, can you read them?" Markl asks his superior.**

 **"That is ancient sorcery. And quite powerful too." Howl tells him.**

 **"It's from the Witch of The Waste?" Markl asks I look at them, I know Sophie and me can't tell them it was her but she just told them herself. What was the point?**

 **"'You who swallowed a falling star, o, heartless man, your heart shall soon belong to me.'" Howl reads. "That can't be good for the table." I glance over at Sophie, it seems to have gone over her head. Howl wipes his hand over the mark with smoke rising from his hand and it wipes away, leaving a clean surface, sort of. He brings his hand back to his chest, trying to hide the burn marks on his hand.**

 **"Wow, it's gone," Markl exclaims, leaning close to see the result.**

 **"The mark may be gone, but the spell is still there," Howl says, he clutches his coat tighter around him then stands up from his seat. "Excuse me, my friends, please continue your meal." He picks up his uneaten meal, he carries it over to Cal. "Calcifer, move the castle 60 miles to the west," He orders, pouring his food into Cal's mouth then walks up the stairs but stops halfway. "And while you're at it, make hot water for my bath," I smirk as Cal groans in irritations and Howl continues up the stairs.**

 **"You're not working for the Witch of The Waste, are you?" Markl asks suspiciously.**

 **"I would never work for that witch! She's the one who…!" She explodes on him but trails off as she tries to say what the witch had done to us. "I'm actually a…" She tries saying something else but it still wouldn't work. She sits up straight with her hands in the air then slams them back down on the table, knocking books and the food to the floor. Markl holds up his plate missing the tremble of the table, knocking me to the floor, I yelp out as I crash to the floor. "If I ever get my hands on that witch, I'm going to wring her fat neck!" She shouts out. "Finish your breakfast." She growls out at Markl, she finishes her food as I jump up back onto the table.**

 **"Soph, you should stop and say sorry to Markl for spooking him," I demand.**

 **"I'm sorry for scaring you, Markl," Sophie grumbles to Markl, she goes back to her food eating slowly. I jump down from the table walking over to the hearth and jump up sitting down next to Cal.**

 **"Goodness you'd think she was the bad sister." I mock, gaining a glare from Sophie.**

 **Sophie soon begins to work on cleaning the castle, she was in her usual wear but modified like she does at home, no shame for the old Sophie as she wears a cloth covering her mouth with one covering her hair, she had her dress tied up, she looks amazing. "I've had enough of this!" She tells me, sweeping the roof angrily before sweeping the floor. "You bugs better run before I bite your heads off!" Sophie hisses as all types of critters run across the room trying to escape their fate. "I'm sick of being treated like some timid little old lady!" I try staying out of her way as she sweeps everything in sight, knocking down books and jars to the floor. Markl runs around the room going inside and outside the castle trying to save what he could from the evil cleaner. I jump out the way as Sophie tries to sweep me up too, I race over to the hearth knowing I'd be somewhat safe from her for now.**

 **"When are you going to clean the bath and me?" I ask her over her ranting.**

 **"Soon wait." She yells at me as she cleans more of the place. I look at Cal who seems to be dimming more and more.**

 **"Soph, Cal's dying!" I shout out to her as she grabs a bed sheet, placing it on the floor.**

 **"Sophie! Please help me! I'm going out!" Cal shouts out in desperation. "Please, get me some firewood, quick! Hey, please help me. Wait, what are you doing?" He asks, as she grips hold of the metal stake picking up the tongs grabbing onto the long Cal was on, he was put in a bucket as Sophie took all the ash from the hearth getting some on me.**

 **"Thank you, Sophie, I've got ash on my paws." I snap at her as I watch Cal struggle to stay on the log.**

 **"Don't! I'll fall! You crazy lady with tongs." Cal cries out in distress.**

 **"You'll be fine," Soph assures him calmly.**

 **"I'll fall! Help! Make her get me out of here Serena quick!" Cal yells.**

 **"Sophie Hatter!" I shout out at her, worried for Cal, Sophie seems to have heard me as she turns to me and Cal as she went out to get rid of the ash, I had to do something. "Howl, hurry Calcifer is in trouble!" I shout as I run to the bottom of the stairs creating soot paw prints on Sophie's clean floor, So sad. The sound of the bathroom door slamming open in a haste, as Howl all clean and proper races down the stairs to Cal's rescue. He goes to the hearth with the bucket with Cal inside, he picks it up and puts on two new logs for the hearth. He tips up the bucket over his hand, I jump up back onto the hearth to see Cal had turned blue, Howl blows onto Cal soon he grows to burn red. Howl places Cal back onto the grate with the new logs, I go closer to Cal to see if he was okay, a hand sits on my head patting it.**

 **"Thank you, Serena," Howl says to me, if I could I would be blushing right now. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't torment my friend," He tells Sophie once she came back in with Markl. He walks off towards the stairs to the door and both Sophie and Markl move out of the way.**

 **"Master Howl, are you going out now?" Markl asks him, Howl closes the door and turns the dial to the black one.**

 **"Markl, Serena, make sure the cleaning lady doesn't get carried away while I'm gone." He orders us with a sweet smile, he opens the door and flies off into the darkness. The door slams behind him switching back to the Porthaven door again.**

 **"Sophie, what did you do now?" Markl demands I look at my sister accusingly and all she does is shrug her shoulders.**

 **"She almost smothered me! If I die, Howl dies too, I hope you know." Cal yells, and I look at him with concern.**

 **"Oh, be quiet. You're alright. Now quit bothering me, I've got to clean the floor again, Serena?" Sophie says, then looks at me, I jump down the hearth and run to Markl hiding behind his legs.**

 **"I was trying to save Cal." I defend myself. Sophie gets her mop again, doing the floor for the second time before making her way up the stairs. Markl races after her interception her at the top of the stairs trying to stop her. I race up there to have a look.**

 **"Wait, you can't come up here!" Markl cries out.**

 **"Whatever you don't want me to clean, better hide it now," Sophie warns him trying to hide her mischievous grin.**

 **"Save my room for last, okay?" Markl gasps, running off into his room. Sophie cackles and I look around the hallway.**

 **"These little outbursts seem to be giving me some energy." She mutters as she continues up the stairs. I run out of her way back downstairs with Cal.**

 **"Thank you for saving me, Serena." Cal thanks me.**

 **"That's okay, I was only trying to help." I smile, I see Sophie race down to the middle of the stairs looking at us with awe across her face.**

 **"Are you the one moving the castle?" Soph asks Cal, I look at her like she was missing some brain cells.**

 **"Of course I am. No one else does any work around here." Cal moans rolling his eyes.**

 **"I am thoroughly impressed!" Sophie gasps with sparkles in her eyes. "You are a first class fire demon. I like your spark." She winks at him before going back up the stairs to clean more of the castle. Cal sparks turning a darker red, almost purple.**

 **"She likes my spark! Haha," He cheers looking at me as I laugh at him.**

 **"I thought she was trying to kill you?" I ask him.**

 **"Not anymore," He replies, I just laugh.**

 **I was outside with Markl and Sophie as they were doing the laundry with Turnip Head as I play around in the grass. "Serena, it's bath time," Soph yells to me. I stop moving hoping she hadn't seen me yet. "I can still see you, Serena." She calls out, I huff in annoyance before running to the castle past Sophie.**

 **I run down the stairs after my bath shaking my tiny body to get rid of any of the water my sister had missed. I jump onto the hearth next to Cal to keep warm, I got too relaxed and soon dozed off into sleep.**


	5. Serena Meets Surprises

**I hear the sound of the door open and close, my eyes flutter open again, I see Howl sitting in the chair by the hearth, I'd been somehow moved to the couch with Sophie. "Howl?" I mutter, it seemed to be louder than I think as it gains his attention.**

 **"Serena?" He gasps in surprise. I wonder why? I get up slowly from the couch, I walk over to him in my sleep haze.**

 **"Are you okay Howl?" I ask him.**

 **"I'm better thank you, Serena, get some sleep." He says, I nod and walk back to the couch and lie down next to Sophie and close my eyes.**

 **I woke suddenly to the sound of the bath running upstairs, it must be Howl. I jump down off the couch and begin to stretch, I look around the room. Sophie was awake now too, getting up from the couch too and getting ready to go food shopping.**

 **We're in the market with Markl as Sophie shops for food. "I don't know why we're doing this, Master Howl hardly eats anything," Markl complains as he hides in his cloak.**

 **"But we do," I tell him walking off with Sophie, we continue to walk around the market, Sophie greeting people as we walk past. We walk to the fish stall, I wish my sense of smell wasn't so heightened as it reeked so bad. The stall soon closes as all the people look to see a boat crash into the harbour. It was a battleship. We move closer to get a better look. It was wrecked with survivors climb out of the battleship, as smoke fills the air. "Come on, Sophie, let's get a better look."**

 **"No, I've seen all I can take. Let's go home." She tells him, before walking off, I look around and to my left, I see something and stop in my tracks. It was the Witch of The Waste's henchmen. It looks like it was searching for something or someone.**

 **"The Witch's henchmen are here," I gasp, racing to Markl and Sophie. I run past them, "Quick the Witch's henchmen are here." I tell them.**

 **"What!" Markl gasps looking around the place.**

 **"Quiet down. There only a few feet away." I tell him, as he tenses up. "He's gone." I look around to see Sophie clutching onto her hat. "I don't understand why no one else seemed to notice him." I ponder as the sound of whizzing comes from the sky as the enemy airship fires down on the water.**

 **"Look up there Sophie, Serena. It's the enemy's airship!" Markl points to it as papers fly from it while the crowd around us runs away. Sophie tares through everyone, trying to get back to the castle, both Markl and I run after her.**

 **We make it back to the castle, Sophie was out of breath as she leans against the wall of the stairs clutching her heart. Markl closes the door behind us, after setting down the basket. "Sophie, are you okay?" He asks her, as we watch Sophie try crawling up the stairs. I race her up there to Cal jumping up the hearth looking at a confused Cal.**

 **"I'll tell you later," I say looking at the withered old Sophie sit down before us.**

 **"I just need a glass of water," She tells Markl, he quickly races around to get her one. A loud shriek is heard from upstairs, it sounds like Howl. The bathroom door slams open making us all jump in surprise. Sophie shoots out of her seat as Markl rushes over to see what was going on, with the glass still in hand. Howl seems to bumps into everything as he races down the stairs, no wonder he was bumping into stuff he was covering his eyes. He was in much distress, his hair was orange and only in a towel, please don't fall down. He stops midway down the stairs and starts yelling at Sophie.**

 **"Sophie! You sabotaged me! Look!" Howl yells, grabbing his hair and runs to the rest of the way down the stairs to shove his orange hair in Sophie's face."Look what you've done to my hair!" Markl cowers behind Sophie as I sit still by Cal. "Look!"**

 **"What a pretty colour," Sophie comments with a small smile.**

 **"It's hideous! You completely ruined my magic potions in the bathroom!" Hoel yells at her, she steps back, blinking up at him in confusion before she grins back at him nervously.**

 **"I just organized things, Howl, nothing's ruined." Sophie states.**

 **"Wrong! Wrong!" He says, clutching at his head with sorrow. "I specifically ordered you not to get carried away!" Tears fill his eyes, he was so full of himself. He starts crying and sits down in the chair. "And now I'm repulsive. I can't live like this." He sobs, bending over until his head was at his knees as he covers his face with his hands. Sophie gulps and carefully steps forward.**

 **"Come on, it's not that bad." The colour begins to change darker before turning black. "You should look at it now. This shade is even better." Soph tries to encourage him.**

 **"I give up. I see no point in living if I can't be beautiful," Howl sulks as a rumbling overtakes the house and the room grows darker. Shadows morph around the room and come through the cracks, I step forward trying to protect everyone.**

 **"Howl, cut it out. Howl, no, stop it. Howl." Cal says getting lower in fear.**

 **"He's calling the Spirits of Darkness. I saw him do this once before when a girl dumped him," Markl explains what was going on with him, I glare at the proudful Wizard. How vain. Sophie steps towards Howl and reaches out for the sorrowful Wizard.**

 **"Now, Howl, you're alright. We'll just dye your hair back again. Okay?" She asks as she places her hand on his shoulder, she gasps and pulls her hand away, as slime was covering her hand. Howl starts sliming up with it dripping everywhere, I jump down onto the floor next to Sophie as she steps away from him.**

 **"Stop it! This is stupid, you're fine any way you are. Look my sister has always thought she was ugly her whole life, comparing herself to me and our little sister, so you have it easy. Pull yourself together." I yell at him, as Sophie spins on her heels and runs to the door.**

 **"I've had enough of this place!" Sophie cries and heads out the door into the pouring rain.**

 **"Soph!" I yell after her, I run after her, the door closing behind me.**

 **"Sophie, it's okay, you're beautiful no matter what anyone thinks," I tell her, I walk over to her slowly and feel myself growing into my human form. I look at my hands and I'm wearing something new too. I look at myself and look at Sophie, I take my coat off and put it over her shoulders. "You need to see that you are beautiful Sophie, no one can tell you otherwise." The door opens up and Markl runs for our help with Howl.**

 **I walk into the castle again with Sophie but I haven't changed back yet, Howl covered in slime. "Such drama," I mutter looking at my sister.**

 **"Is he dead?" Markl asks.**

 **"No, he's fine. He's just throwing a tantrum. Come on, give us a hand." Soph says to him, as she rolls up her sleeves as we walk towards Howl. We pull Howl up from his arm as we put them over our shoulders as we drag him up the stairs. We make it up halfway up the stairs when Howl's towel falls off, we look up and at each other and continue on to the bathroom. We give Howl to Markl to clean and we go back downstairs to see the mess Howl had left. "Now I have to mop again." I look at her as she becomes bigger as I become smaller and turn back into a dog again.**

 **Sophie is finally done and seems Howl is too, I look up the stairs and make my way to the hallway to see a fully clothed Howl and Markl leading him to his room. I race to the door as it opens making my way into Howl's room, it was amazing, it was full of trinkets of magic. Markl puts Howl into his bed and leaves, I wait a little longer and then hop onto the bed and look at the wizard in front of me.**


	6. Serena Meets Madame Suliman

**I look at the drained wizard, he looks so helpless just lying there in his bed with a sour face on his handsome one. I tumble over to him on his bed as he stares into nothing, he seems to sense me as he moves his hand to the top of my head. I look at him and his bad mood, I move closer to him and stare at his hair, it suits him now he looks more natural and I love the way it looks on him and if I could blush as he catches me staring at him I would. "It looks horrible doesn't it," He says looking at me.**

 **"No, I was thinking how nice it looks on you, it suits you more now," I tell him as I rest my head on his stomach looking at him.**

 **"Thank you," He smiles and closes his eyes seeming to drift into a light sleep and I hear something come from the door. It was Sophie. She knocks on the door, she enters the room, carrying a glass of milk.**

 **"I brought you some warm milk. Want a sip?" She asks him softly, he shakes his head slightly answering no. "I'll leave it here for you, then. Try to drink it before it gets cold." She tells him setting it down, she goes back to the door.**

 **"Sophie, wait." Howl calls out to her and she stops in opening the door. She walks over to us asking again if he wanted the milk and he tells her no, she sits down on a stool beside the bed. I look around the room when one of the ornaments starts ringing and shimmering before Howl's eyes shoot open. "The Witch of The Waste is trying to find my castle," My eyes widen in shock, I look at Sophie and she has the same reaction as me.**

 **"We saw her henchmen in the harbour," I tell him as Sophie gasps.**

 **"I am such a big coward, all I do is hide. And all of this magic is just to keep everybody away. I can't stand how scared I am," Howl admits to us as he turns towards us.**

 **"Sometimes hiding is a necessary to survive," Sophie tells him and he glances over at her before looking away.**

 **"Howl, why is The Witch of the Waste trying to hunt you down?" I ask him curiosity getting the better of me.**

 **"She was once quite beautiful, so I decided to pursue her. Then I realised she wasn't," He answers with a frown on his pretty face. We sigh at his behaviour. "So as usual, I ran away. I can't run much longer, though. I have to report to the palace, as both Pendragon and Jenkins."**

 **"How many aliases do you have, anyway?" I ask him looking at the pieces of paper.**

 **"As many as I need to keep my freedom." Howl states and I look at my sister as she suggests to refusing the invitation to the palace. "See that?" He asks, pointing to a piece paper held to the dartboard by a lot of pointy objects. "That's the oath I took when I entered the Royal Sorcery Academy. I must report to the palace whenever summoned."**

 **"You know Howl, I think that you should see the King," Sophie suggests with a smile.**

 **"What!?" Both Howl and I ask her, looking at her like she was insane.**

 **"Give him a piece of your mind. Tell him this war is pointless. And you refuse to take part, huh?" She tells him and straightens herself on the stool. Howl sighs loudly even though what Sophie said was true and needs to be said to our King.**

 **"I have to agree with her Howl, it needs to be done," I tell him, looking at them both.**

 **"You obviously don't know what these people are like." He tells us.**

 **"But he's our king. He should want to hear what all of his citizens have to say." Sophie argues, Howl suddenly gasps and straightens up in his bed with a large grin on his face.**

 **"I got it! Why don't you go to the Palace for me?" He asks, his black hair floating around his face.**

 **"Huh?" She asks.**

 **"Just say that you're Pendragon's Mother, and your son is such a cowardly wizard, he's too afraid to show his face. Maybe then Madam Sullivan will finally give up on me." He tells Sophie excitedly with his blue eyes gleaming.**

 **"Who's Madam Suliman?" I ask looking at Sophie who shrugs her shoulders at me. Howl gets up from his bed, I jump up and fall onto the floor, he wraps the blanket around himself as he was only wearing a long shirt. Sophie leans over me and picks me up and we follow Howl out of the room and downstairs.**

 **I suddenly felt sick to my stomach, I jump out of Sophie's arms and I look around the room as Howl, Markl and Calcifer sit about as Sophie debates with herself on whether or not to go. I look at Sophie then at Howl. "Not good," I mutter gaining Sophie's attention.**

 **"Serena, what's wrong?" Soph asks me as I lie on the floor.**

 **"I don't know, my stomach is hurting," I tell her and Howl looks over along with Markl.**

 **"She's glowing Master Howl," Markl points at me and I look at him with a strange look. The sick feeling begins to grow as a light blinds us all. I open my eyes to see I ( cgi/set?id=222360071) was at my human height and look down to see I was human again.**

 **"I'm human, hey look I'm human." I laugh out looking at them all with joy and I run around looking at them. Howl laughs with me and Sophie looks a mix of happy and sad and Markl is giggling at my behaviour and Cal looks interested in what just happened to me. "Sophie, I can come with you to see Madam Sullivan, you won't have to go on your own," I tell her.**

 **"I'm glad," Sophie says quietly.**

 **"I'm sorry Sophie, I forgot you're suffering too, but think of it this way if it happens to one of us then it could happen to both of us," I tell her and I grab hold of her hands in comfort.**

 **"You can go as my wife, and you can make sure Sophie is safe, I could tell you were worried about her," Howl tells us and I look at him appreciation and I pick Markl up in my arms and smile at how small he is and dance around while humming the song Father use to while he would work. I look at Sophie to see that she has a lost look on her face, I walk over to her as she snaps out of it and looks at me her eyes glossy with tears that threaten to fall. I put Markl down and hug my sister and look behind her at the others and hold my sister in her weakened state.**

 **We start getting ready for our journey to the Palace to see Madam Sullivan, Howl was kind enough to make Sophie's dress pretty, I was wearing a new outfit like always when I seem to change and I look to Sophie to see her tug on her hat, he looks annoyed as he hands me a slip of paper for when we reach the Palace. "You're wearing that hat? After all that magic I used to make your dress pretty?" Howl asks Soph as I look into the mirror to hide my dog ears from view.**

 **"Take care of him, Markl," Sophie says sternly, as she takes her cane from him, I look at them both as I join Sophie.**

 **"Good luck," Cal calls out to us and we get to the front door when Howl floats to our side, he takes my hand in his, my face begins to get warm as he slides a silver ring onto my wedding finger and holds onto my hand softly as he looks at me.**

 **"This charm will guarantee your safe return," He tells me, I look at the ring and it was beautiful. "Don't Worry. I'll follow behind you two in disguise. Now. Off you go." He opens the door for us and we walk out and he closes it behind us and we go off on our way to the Palace.**

 **We are nearly there and Sophie starts looking around the place, probably to see where Howl is. "Soph, what are you doing?" I ask her.**

 **"I wonder what Howl disguised himself as. Surely not a Crow." She answers me, as I look at her confused with her comment. We pass a large statue, pigeons fly overhead as we look up at them. "Can't be a pigeon, he's too flamboyant for that." She muses as I laugh at her, she looks at me and laughs with me as an aircraft flies over with a man and woman on both laughing.**

 **"That could be him." We both say at the same time and laugh again, I stop as I look at a couple to our right, they seem so in love with one another.**

 **"He does like you," Sophie says, snapping me out of my thoughts.**

 **"You don't know that he could just be nice to me because… for some reason but not because he likes me." I tell her as we walk on. "Look how far we still have to go," And we finally enter the gates to the main section of Kingsbury. I look around and my tail begins to wiggle under the dress, I see another dog watching us, as we continue on the dog moves and starts to follow us. I look to Sophie to see her looking down at the dog.**

 **"Howl? You disguised yourself as an old dog?" Sophie asks the dog, she was going crazy. No way was Howl going to disguise himself as an old dog he would not do that. My dog ears twitch upon my head and I look to our side and see the Witch of The Waste had pulled up along side us with her ugly henchmen carrying her covered chair that could not contain her without some magic.**

 **"Look who's here. The tacky little girls from the hat shop." The Waste of a Witch sneers at us in her little window. "Looks like you've almost broken your curse, doggie." She laughs and I look at her and stick my tongue out at her in a childish manner. "Thank you for handing my scorching love note to Howl," The Witch says and Sophie looks between the dog and the Witch. "How's he doing, by the way?" She asks.**

 **"He's acting like a big baby. And he's working me to the bone as his cleaning lady." Soph says looking down at the dog in scorn. She really is a fool sometimes.**

 **"How delightful. What about you doggie?" The Witch asks me looking at me with so much hate.**

 **"Much better than Sophie, I get to watch her do all the work while I sit by Howl, it's really nice too." I tease her and the look of hate comes over her face.**

 **"So tell me, what business do you two have here at the Palace?" The Witch asks us looking away from us with a slight huff at the end.**

 **"Joh hunting. I'm sick of working for Howl. And with Serena is mostly always human, we can't leave each other alone." Soph replies**

 **"And what about yourself?" I ask her smirking.**

 **"I received a royal invitation. That idiot Sullivan finally realised how much she needs my power," The Waste of a Witch boasts, she really is full of herself.**

 **"If you're so great, why don't you break the spell you put on me?" Sophie asks her angrily.**

 **"I'm sorry, dear. My talent lies in casting spells, not breaking them. By, Granny, Doggie." She says as her henchmen quicken their pace leaving us behind.**

 **"Now, just wait a minute!" Sophie calls out to her, trying to hobble faster as she waves her cane in the air at the Witch. "You get back here right now!" She looks down at the dog at our feet. "If I didn't have you to worry about, I would have clobbered her." I look at her and look in front of us and quicken my pace to get away from her craziness. We get closer to the Palace gates. The henchmen of the Witch begin to melt suddenly, I look at Sophie who seems really happy about this and I watch as she is forced to walk up the large amount of stairs.**

 **The dog wheezes at us as we step through the gates of the Palace, I look around at all the guards, I take my arm and loop it through Sophie's as we walk to the bottom of the stairs. "Come on, Serena, Howl. We can do this, just act natural." She advises us as she starts up the stairs. I look down at the dog as he begins to whine in frustration, I bend down and pick him up into my arms. We walk past the Witch as we make our way up the stairs and the Witch seems worse for wear and I stay behind Soph as she was struggling a little and almost fell back already.**

 **"Dog, why are you so heavy?" I ask it.**

 **"Wait, Help. I can't make it," The Witch pleads with us, she was covered in sweat and she was heavily sweating.**

 **"What'd you say?" Soph asks her, cupping her ear looking at the Witch. "You suddenly remembered how to break the spell you put on us?" She asks pausing in her steps as the Witch struggles more up the stairs and breathing heavily.**

 **"I told you. I don't know how " The Witch groans in exhaustion.**

 **"Then start studying," I tell her as we continue on walking up the stairs and we soon make it up the last few steps and I put down the dog onto the stairs. Sophie looks back at the Witch to see her with more sweat falling down her face and struggling to make it up the stairs.**

 **We make it to the top finally, a page walks over to us and I bend down to pick the dog up again. "Honored guests, please follow me," The page says.**

 **"You should go help her get up those stairs," Soph tells him as the moaning and groaning of the Witch.**

 **"I am strictly forbidden to offer such assistance." He mocks, I glare at him and his uptight nature and I look back at the Witch, she was horrible but the motto Dad always said was 'treat people how you wish to be treated and good things will always happen'. I sigh in annoyance and makeup way towards the Witch and put my arm around her, we make it to the top, the Witch was drenched in her sweat, she looks dreadful she had gotten smaller, still slightly fat but really old. "Ms. Pendragon, Mrs. Pendragon and the Witch of The Waste." One of the servants announces us as we walk through the large ornate halls.**

 **"Pull yourself together. Isn't this what you've been waiting for?" Sophie asks the Witch, she gives her cane to the Witch, I take my arms back and put it around Sophie as they were both really old.**

 **"Your name is Pendragon? Why does that name so familiar?" The Witch asks us, she looks at us and I stare ahead not looking at her.**

 **"That was the name of our tacky hat shop, don't you remember." I snap at her as we keep on walking down the hallway.**

 **"Is that what it was?" She asks rhetorically, we soon reach a large room with no natural light, just candles with only the one chair. The doors close behind us and the Witch gasps, she races to the chair exclaiming that it was hers and sits down in the chair, she really looks terrible. I look down at the dog and he was running around the room and follow his path, I didn't like the feeling I was getting being here. The wall opposite us suddenly slides open, a young boy stands there, he stares at us then bows to us before politely directing us inside. I look around the room before taking Sophie and following the young boy, into a dark hallway.**

 **We enter a greenhouse, it was beautiful with flowers of all kinds everywhere, I look forward to see four men talking to a woman in a wheelchair, she seems so uptight, and elegant. The men all bow to her thanking her and walk off and a name caught my attention. Madame Suliman.**


	7. Serena Meets The King

**The young boy that lead us to the greenhouse room, he walks over to the woman in the wheelchair, he leans into her, whispering into her ear and writes something down on a piece of parchment. Madame Suliman looks over at us and smiles, it seems almost fake and malicious, she has a secret agenda for all of this. "So, you're Howl's Mother and his Wife, are you?" She asks us, we nod at her making her smile widen. "You must be tired. Please have a seat." She motions to two chairs across from her. I guide Sophie over to the chair and sit her down and make myself comfortable. "I am Madame Suliman, His Majesty's head Sorceress." Sophie suddenly gasps, she looks down at the floor by Madame Suliman, I follow her gaze to see the dog by Madame Suliman's feet.**

 **"That's not your dog, is it?" Sophie asks her.**

 **"His name is Heen. He's my errand dog. I had him escort the two of you here." She answers Soph, I glance around the room something in me just didn't feel right about this. "I take it Howl won't be joining us? It would have been so nice to catch up. I was not aware that he had taken a wife," she comments and looks at me. I look her in the eyes and fake a smile, I didn't want her knowing anything important, she was too shifty for my liking.**

 **"He's such a lazy son, he sent us instead. I'm afraid the King would find him completely useless." Sophie tells her, she shakes her head acting sad. Madame Suliman frowns at her, she rests her chin onto her knuckles.**

 **"I am very sorry to hear that. Howl was the last apprentice I ever took on. I've never seen such a gifted student. He seems to have improved his taste in women, doesn't he Mrs. Pendragon?" Suliman says and looks at me, I felt my tail move around under my dress, I move my hand slightly to stop it, but my ears had other things on their mind as they stand tall on top of my head, this gains Sophie's attention and Madame Suliman was looking at me with such interest on her aged face. "My, it seems you've got yourself a nasty curse been put on you, but you've almost broken yours. But I must say I was so thrilled to have finally found someone talented enough to replace me. Then one day his heart is stolen by a demon." I look at her, she knew something about Cal, he was the demon she was talking about. "He never returned to complete his apprenticeship. And from that day forward, he has been using his magic for entirely selfish reasons." She pauses as she let it sink in for us. "Madame Pendragons." She leans forward.**

 **"Yes." We answer her.**

 **"That boy is extremely dangerous. His powers are far too great for someone without a heart. If he stays selfish, I'm afraid he'll end up just like the Witch of The Waste." She looks at us, but it wasn't in concern it was something else. "Send her in." She orders, the young boy from before walks in pushing a cart towards us. I look at it to my horror it was the Witch of The Waste, she looks terrible, she had aged drastically her once vibrant pink hair was almost gray and she was tiny, her clothes were wearing her instead of the other way round.**

 **"What on Earth happened to you?" Sophie asks the Witch once she was stopped beside her.**

 **"I just restored her to the age she actually is. All her powers are gone now." Madame Suliman states as if it was nothing, cruel woman. I curl my hand into a fist of the thought of Howl in the Waste Witch's place, I felt anger and a growl escapes my lips. "Once, she, too, was a magnificent sorcerer with so much promise. But then she fell prey to a demon of greed who slowly consumed her, body and soul. Our kingdom can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to these disreputable Witches and Wizards. If Howl reports to me and vows to use his magic to serve the kingdom, I will show him how to break from his demon. If not, I'll strip him of all his powers. Just like her." I stand up from the chair suddenly making it fall back onto the floor, gaining the attention of everyone.**

 **"I have heard enough! Now I understand why Howl was so concerned about coming to see you. It's a trap! You bring the Witches and Wizards here with an invitation from the King and if they don't agree with your views or agree to fight in the war, you steal away their powers without a second thought, Howl could never be so heartless. He may be selfish and cowardly at times, and hard to understand, but he is a much better Wizard than you, who claims to be doing the right thing. His intentions are good. He only wants to be free. Howl will never come here. He doesn't need your help nor wants it. He can fix his problem with his demon on his own. I'm positive he can." I tell her and I smile. 'I will help him, not you.' I thought to myself.**

 **"Now I understand. You truly love Howl, don't you?" Madame Suliman asks me with a Witch gasps at this information and I see her reach up to Sophie's skirt tugging on it as Sophie was holding my hand to get me to sit back down.**

 **"Howl? Did you say that Howl's coming?" The Witch asks, tears pooling in her eyes as drool falls from her gaping mouth. "I want his heart, his heart belongs to me!" She sobs, falling off her cart, I just look at her. I nudge Sophie to go help her as I stand in front of her so she was safe.**

 **"Stop that, just calm down. Howl is not coming here, ok?" She tells her trying to calm her down.**

 **"Oh, I think he will," Madame Suliman says to us as a aircraft lands just outside the greenhouse room. "I now know his weakness.** ** _Mrs. Pendragon_** **." She says mocking me, I narrow my eyes at her, she thought she was so clever. I hear a door being open, I turn my head to see the kid from before opening the door to a tall red-haired man, he seems too familiar, I smelt something, it was perfume. Howl's. "Your Majesty."**

 **"As you were," He says, moving to stand in front of her with a hand behind his back. "So, then, how are you feeling?"**

 **"I'm fine. Thank you." She answers him, bowing her head to him.**

 **"Thought I'd drop by, rather than sit through a dull war meeting." He informs her with a small laugh.**

 **"What an honour." Madame Suliman smiles as Howl turns to us, he had that mischievous look in his eye.**

 **"Who are your guests?" He asks.**

 **"This is Howl's Mother and Wife, Madams Pendragon." She tells him, I look at him, he kept staring at me, Howl what are you thinking? He moves towards us and I look at Sophie and we curtsey as he puts both of his hands behind his back now.**

 **"Thanks for coming. But I've decided not to use magic to win this war. We have tried using Madame Suliman's magic to shield our Palace from the enemy's bombs, but the bombs fall on civilians homes instead. That's the problem with magic. Right, Suliman?" He turns his head to look at her, he was so teasing her, what a bad Wizard he was.**

 **"You're so eloquent today, Your Majesty." She comments, and just as the real King walks into the greenhouse room, waving a piece of paper about. Oh dear.**

 **"Suliman!" He calls out, Sophie gasps, I hold my breath, as Soph looks between the two kings as the penny drops on to what is happening. "I've got a new battle plan. This time we're going to beat them to a pulp." He tells her. I puff out my breath in anger, he was horrible, what Howl said was right, magic wasn't the answer to this war. The King looks over at Howl and laughs. "Suliman, that's the best double you've made of me yet. Ha! Keep up the good work." He says way too cheerful and walks out the room.**

 **"Your Majesty." Madame Suliman bows her head, we stand in silence looking at everyone, I move forward to Howl, I take his hand in mine, he turns his head to me, and I look at him, he looks so scared, I tighten my hold on his hand. "So nice to see you again, Howl."**

 **"You're looking well, Madame Suliman." He says in his normal voice and bows to her.**

 **"Rather weak disguise. Didn't I teach you better?" She asks him.**

 **"I'm not trying to outwit you." He tells her as he pulls me to his side, I hold out my hand for Sophie, she clutches onto it hard in fright. I look up at Howl, his hair had gone back to black, he suited the uniform really well. "I kept my oath, I reported when summoned. Now Mother, Mrs. Pendragon, and I will go." He smirks at her pulling me closer.**

 **"I'm afraid not." Madame Suliman hums as she taps her staff down onto the floor, a hole appears at the bottom of her wheelchair the hole widens revealing the night sky, Madame Suliman moves her chair back and a wave of water flows towards us, it engulfs us, I close my eyes in fear holding myself close to Howl. I open my eyes to see that the water had turned to air, I look around and see were standing above the ground, I clutch more onto Howl and feel Sophie holding onto me for dear life.**

 **"Now whatever you do, don't look down," Howl warns us, I stand still and look at Sophie as she looks to see The Witch of The Waste holding onto her skirt.**

 **"It's time to show your Mother and Wife what you really are Howl." Madame Suliman taunts him, as shooting stars burst around us. I look up at Howl, his smirk was still on his face but it was his eyes that told a different story, they were scared. The stars begin to gather around us in a circle, holding hands and singing a creepy tune. Howl begins to breathe heavily and his arm that was around me begins to twitch violently and morphs into black feathers and his hand grew black claws. I hear Sophie gasps out, I look behind me to her and I turn again to Howl, his teeth sharpen into fangs and his ebony hair turns into feathers that begin to spread down and around his face. A pair of large raven black wings burst out of his back as he groans in pain, I look at him, he was struggling so much he was like a child caught and it scares me to think about what he has been through. I look to Madame Suliman she raises her staff like a spear and readies herself.**

 **"Howl!" I yell at him trying to hold him back. "No, it's a trap!" Howl tries getting closer to her, I drag my feet trying to pull him back as Sophie helps me, I wrap my tail around his waist and run my tongue across my canine teeth and bite down onto his hand, making him yell out in pain and seems to snap him out of it and he spreads out his wings taking off up as Madame Suliman throws her spear at us catching Sophie's hat. The shadows of the stars follow us up as till Howl breaks through the glass ceiling and they stop and we are out of the greenhouse and Howl's wings disappear, he lands on the aircraft Howl had taken.**

 **I help both Sophie and The Witch sit on the chairs and Howl takes the wheel, "Hold on," He tells us as we take off into the sky. I look behind me and I see Heen flapping his ears landing over to the Witch's lap and landing there with Sophie. "Serena, sit up here." He asks me and I move towards him as he moves out of the way, I move slow and sit down in the seat putting my hands on the wheel with Howl's hands on there. "Did you have to bring those two with you?" He asks Sophie.**

 **"I can't believe you work for Suliman." Sophie groans out behind us. "I guess it's too late to toss him."**

 **"What about the Witch?" I ask her looking back, she just glares at me.**

 **"Serena, take the wheel," Howl says, he moves my hands to the right places and I look at him as if he was crazy.**

 **"Howl, you can't be serious, I can't fly this thing," I argue and Sophie starts shouting in protest too.**

 **"They're gaining on us," Howl tells us and I look behind us and see that it was true and I look forward and hold my breath. "I'll distract them, then you can fly this thing back to my castle in the Wastes."**

 **"How? I don't know the way," I ask him looking at him, losing control and look back frantically taking control of the wheel.**

 **"Don't worry. That ring I gave you will guide you back home. All you have to do is summon Calcifer with your heart." Howl tells me, I close my eyes as I feel Howl's hands on top of mine, I try not thinking of Howl but of Cal and all the time we've had to talk, laugh and joke around.**

 **"It's glowing!" Sophie yells out in surprise, I open my eyes to see the ring on my finger it was glowing red.**

 **"Just keep following that light and you should be there before dark."**

 **"I can't do this," I snap at him. "Why did you make us come here if you were coming yourself?" I ask him.**

 **"Knowing that you would be there, the both of you, gave me the courage to show up," Howl says to us, he leans in closer to me. "That woman terrifies me, I can't face her on my own." He looks at me right in the eyes and I look at him. "You saved me, Serena, Sophie. I was in big trouble back there. Serena, did you have to bite me?" He asks me and I nod my head proud then he suddenly lets go of my hands on the wheel leaving me to the helm.**

 **"Oh! Don't let go!" I shout at him as I try to gain control of the craft spinning the wheel widely but I still hit the bell tower.**

 **"Wow. You're good." Howl compliments me, I knew he was wrong I was terrible.**

 **"Are you nuts?" Sophie asks him from the back.**

 **"We've got a good lead now. I can give you five minutes of invisibility, so use it wisely." He tells me and kisses me quickly on the cheek making me blush and waves his arm over us and he pairs off from us in a different direction.**

 **"Howl!" I yell out his name, he salutes and shouts out a good luck and I look ahead trying to make our way back to the castle.**

 **We were still flying and it begins to rain and I look around and look down to see mine and Sophie's hometown. I miss it but I know one day I will see it again I just don't know when. We were almost there at the Wastes where the castle will be, and the rain has stopped. I look ahead to see the castle on top of a hill waiting for us, I hear something and I know the voice, it was Markl, he was calling out to us. "Markl, help me! How am I supposed to land this thing?" I ask in fright, I get closer to the castle and the castle opens its mouth and swallows us. I hear a loud shriek from Cal and I jump down from the seat and see I change back to a puppy and I jump down the pile of rubble. I put my nose down to the floor and start sniffing out Sophie as Markl races around too trying to find Sophie. She slides down the rubble and picks me us in her arms and tells us she's fine and hugs us.**

 **"I missed you," Markl tells us as he takes me from Sophie.**

 **"I missed you too. Thanks for coming to meet us." I tell him as Sophie begins to make room around for everyone but Markl and we begin to go to sleep.**


	8. Serena Meets Hideaway

**I stir in my sleep and hear the sounds of footsteps on the floor, I open my eyes slowly to see large bird feet come into view along with black feathers with droplets of a dark liquid falling onto the floor. It was blood. I get up from the pillow I took from Sophie and walk over to a large amount of feathers and reach my paw out to touch it when it begins to grow inwards. I jerk back in surprise and follow the bird thing up the stairs, it opens up Howl's room and I race to catch up and make it inside the room before the door closes behind it.**

 **I look at the ground and see feathers scattered across the floor, a cold breeze blows through the room, I look to see tunnels that spilled into two different directions. I look around the place it wasn't like before it, I lower my head down to floor or ground and I sniff out any scent I could find and I found Howl's, I move closer to it when a loud panting sound comes closer and the trinkets around the tunnel begin to fade into nothing and turn into feathers. I stop in my tracks at the large amount of feathers in front of me it was moving and the pants were getting louder, it was Howl. My breath begins to get heavier as my stomach begins to hurt again, I was turning human. "Howl, is that you?" I ask him getting closer to him as he shifts in his spot. "Are you in pain? Please, tell me what's happening?"**

 **"Go away," He gasps.**

 **"No, I'm not going away. I'm going to help you break the contract that you're under." I tell him and watch as he pauses in his movements, he stands tall in front of me, his fangs glistening in the light of his mouth slightly open.**

 **"You… You can't even break your own spell." He says harshly, feathers float towards me, passing by my face as the wind blew by.**

 **"I am close though, to breaking both of ours. I love you, Howl, and I swear I will get your heart back to you." I promise you, I blush bright red as I admit my feelings for the flamboyant Wizard.**

 **"You're too late." He says, standing up fully and flies off further into the tunnel and feathers fly around in my directions, I move my arm to shield my eyes.**

 **"Howl! No!" I yell out, as I begin to shrink back into my puppy form.**

 **I bolt up from my sleeping area to hear the sound of water running, it was Howl he was back. I look over at Cal and sit up from my pillow and walk over to Cal. "Hey, Cal, did Howl just get in?" I ask him looking up at the ceiling.**

 **"Yeah, and he looks terrible. You better figure out how to break the spell on us quick," Cal warns me as I jump up onto the hearth and lie my head down looking at Cal thinking about the dream I just had. "Howl's running out of time, I hope you realise that."**

 **"Don't worry Cal, I think I have it almost figured out, I just need a few things to think over first," I tell him and close my eyes as the warmth of Cal's heat makes me sleepy.**

 **"Calcifer, if what Madame Suliman says is true, does that mean that Howl will become a monster?" Sophie asks Cal, I open my eyes to see she was awake, it must have been when we were talking.**

 **"I can't tell you details of the curse, lady. You should know that by now. Come on," He tells her, giving her a frowned look.**

 **"Do you know what Madame Suliman said? She said that Howl's heart was stolen by a demon," She says lowly, moving closer to him. "Tell me now. What do you know?"**

 **"I'm so sorry, but that would be confidential information." He tells her.**

 **"What if I dump a bucket of water on you?" She asks rather aggressively, she puts her hands on her hips glaring down at him. I get up from where I was lying down and stand in a protective stance in front of Cal.**

 **"If you drown me, then Howl will die too!" Cal shouts at her in panic.**

 **"Calm down, both of you," I tell them and lie down and close my eyes and hear Sophie go back to the sofa and lie down too before falling asleep.**

 **It was finally morning, we were all outside in the sun trying to get the aircraft out of the castle, Sophie, Markl, even turnip head and Heen were trying, I just watch from the sidelines as Sophie kicks the craft making it fall back out of the castle and start chasing Markl and turnip head. I laugh at them till Markl starts chasing me too, we stop when Sophie tells us that food was ready and we race inside the castle.**

 **We were sitting down to eat our food, even the Witch was sitting eyeing Cal, which was making him rather uncomfortable trying to hide from her as Sophie fed the Witch. I look down at the bowl of oatmeal then look up at Heen and his messy eating it was gross just watching and look back down to the bowl of food and eat it slowly so I don't get any of it on me. "Don't feed her! That's the Witch of The Waste!" Cal whisper-shouts in protest at Sophie. "She keeps staring at me. It's freaking me out."**

 **"What a pretty fire," The Witch comments in a slight daze, making Cal dive back into the ashes and puffs out a cloud of dust. The sound of footsteps running down the stairs makes all of us turn our heads to see Howl with a bright smile**

 **"Good morning, everyone." Howl greets us all with his hands on his hips.**

 **"Master Howl, we can keep this dog, can't we?" Markl asks looking at the dog, said dog looks up at all of us spreading the oatmeal across the table.**

 **"The Witch of The Waste and Suliman's Dog at my table. What possessed you to let them in the house, Calcifer?" Howl asks him, with a grin on his face.**

 **"I didn't let them in. Serena crash-landed her plane into my face." Cal complains and Howl bursts into laughter.**

 **"I told you I can't drive that thing," I tell him looking down at my bowl.**

 **"I knew she'd make a great pilot," Howl says walking over to me and picks me up in his arms then walks over to the hole I had made. "Looks like we have yet another addition to the family. Hmm, you've got quite a nasty spell on you too, huh? It seems like everyone in this family's got problems."**

 **"What's a handsome man," The Witch gazes at Howl and he turns around to face everyone.**

 **"So, we've got a lot of work to do. We're moving." Howl tells us.**

 **"That's good. I'm sick of being stuck out here in the middle of nowhere," Markl smiles looking up from his meal.**

 **"Madame Suliman is hot on our trail, so we're gonna have to hurry," Howl explains looking at all of the confused faces, he turns around to look at Turnip head. "I'm afraid your spell is too strong for this move. You're gonna have to stay behind."**

 **After breakfast, Howl and Markl make their way outside, Heen and I trail after them and go outside, Markl walks about in front of Howl as he picks up pebbles as Howl drags a paint cart behind him. Heen and I trail behind them as Howl paints some sort of symbol on the ground. "There all done," Howl says, he looks at the castle and waves his hand "Alright, Calcifer, line her up." The castle moves up lining up with the symbol and makes a hissing sound and we make our way back into the castle.**

 **We make our way into the room, and get told to sit on the table Sophie helps the Witch to sit and Markl takes me and Heen as Howl bends down to the floor and draws with chalk a different symbol. "There," He says, standing up putting the chalk away he looks at all of us with a smile. "Sit tight for a second." He walks over to the hearth taking a shovel and gently scoops up Cal.**

 **"Be gentle with me, please," Cal warns him, as Howl walks over to the symbol on the floor.**

 **"On my mark," Howl tells him, he raises his left arm out to the side and a gust of wind blows into the room. Cal howls out and changes form into a large blue flame, with a demonic look on his once peaceful face. Sparks flew about the place, as the symbol glows pink and the castle creaks, Howl lifts off the floor slightly as the room begins to change growing, and changing around the castle. The whole castle felt like it was changing the floor, the walls everything was changing but it felt familiar somehow. Once everything stops changing, the sparks vanish along with the glow of pink and the symbol somehow disappears from floor, Cal calms down returning to normal. The house had gotten much bigger now, we all look in awe at everything, the room was so different, green on the walls, it was slightly girly with its floral pattern on it, there was more furniture now too, it seems Howl thought of everything. "Movings done," He says with a goofy grin on his face. " You can get down now." He walks over to the hearth returning Cal back to his place, Markl jumps down from the table putting Heen and me down too, Heen and Markl run around in circles.**

 **"This is great, Master Howl. It's huge!" Markl cheers running around, I jump onto the hearth next to Cal, the sound of a train whistle comes to my ears, I jump back down and race to the window to see where we had moved to. Sophie walks over next to me, we were back in our hometown.**

 **"But this is.." Sophie gasps out looking around the place still staring outside.**

 **"I added on a bathroom," Howl says as he walks over to us, and opens the door next to us. "Since our family seems to keep growing. Come over here, Serena, Sophie." He tells us as he stands in front of a door. "I've added two other bedrooms as well. Have a look." He opens the door to the room, Sophie gasps, I walk to the door as she walks in, it was her old room where she use to make hats all the time. I walk away till Howl picks me up in his arms and takes me up the stairs to a familiar door. "This is yours." He turns the handle and opens the door to a room, it was full of books, it was simple inside with a bed close to the ground so if I was a dog. He puts down so I walk into the room I look around the room at the bookcases to see all the books I had ever read. I turn around to look at Howl and his smug look as he enters the room. "There are clothes in the wardrobe for you, I hope you like them." He smiles, my stomach begins to feel funny meaning I was turning human again. A bright light surrounds me and it soon begins to dim down where it leaves just me in my human form. I look at Howl to see him blushing, I look down at myself and for the first time I wasn't wearing any clothes, I jump down into a crouch and hide behind the bed. I look at Howl to see he was so still and in a daze.**

 **"That was unexpected," I comment and look at Howl, he just nods in his daze like state. "Would you mind leaving, please." He nods again and leaves closing the door behind him, I get up from my hiding space and walk over to the chest of drawers and the wardrobe to find everything I needed and got changed. ( cgi/set?id=222675800)**

 **I walk down the stairs to the others, I just miss Markl, Heen, and Sophie walks out the front door into the street. "Where are they going?" I ask, to see Howl sitting in front of Cal.**

 **"They are going to get food for dinner tonight." Howl answers, he seems to realise that it was me and jumps to attention and turns to face me. "Come, I want to show you something." He walks over to me, he takes my hand in his and walks us over to the front door, "See that new colour on the dial." As he turns the dial from red to yellow. "There's a new portal." He opens the door to a beautiful meadow full of green grass and colourful flowers with a river flowing, I look around and step out onto the grass, I look down at the grass. "It's a present for you. Come see," He tightens the hold he has on my hand.**

 **I look over at him my ears twitching and I feel my tail moving under my dress, I look at Howl to see we came out of a cottage, and closes the door behind us. I look down at the scenery, the grass, the flowers and the large lake it is beautiful, "You like it? It's my secret garden." Howl asks me.**

 **"IT's incredible." I gap out. "Did you use your magic to make this?" I ask him, I look over at the flowers, I had read books about these kinds of flowers and it was impossible to grow more than half of them in this type of environment.**

 **"Only a little, just to help the flowers grow." He hops over a small stream then turns back to help me over, I keep my grip on his hand and jump over next to him. I look down at the stream and smile at my reflection in the water and turn to Howl and laugh.**

 **"This place is gorgeous, Howl!" I laugh, with a big smile on my face, I move my hair out of my face as the wind blows past us, I move some of my hair behind my human ears. "Like a wonderful dream that I never want to wake up from."**

 **"Serena?" He asks, he looks at me.**

 **"It's so amazing, this place is filled with magic, I can feel it," I say looking at the meadow as a breeze blows through the meadow blowing the grass. We walk off up a hill to a small cottage with a water wheel,**

 **"That was my secret hideaway. I spent a lot of time here by myself when I was young. My uncle, who was a wizard, gave me this place as my private study. Now you can come here whenever you like. You could even open up a flower shop with Sophie and the others." He says, he tries to pull me further forward but I drop my hand from his and he looks at me in confusion. "What's the matter?"**

 **"Not with you, just with Sophie and the others?" I ask him. "You're scaring me, Howl. You making it sound as if you're not going to be here with us. I get this weird feeling like you're going to leave us. Leave us." He stays silent. "Howl, tell me what's going on. I don't believe what Madame Suliman might think of you. You won't become a monster." I tell him, he smiles at me and walks over to me.**

 **"I'm just setting things up so all of you can live comfortable lives, Serena." He tells me and I frown at him.**

 **"But what about you," I ask him. "You're going away, aren't you?" I whisper, he takes his hands and places them on both sides of my face and looks into my eyes. "Please, stay with us. I know I can be of some help to you. Even though I'm not pretty. And I can change into a dog."**

 **"Serena! Serena, you're beautiful." Howl tells me pulling me closer to his face. "Your ears and tail, they are a part of you, they make up what is you." A loud noise grabs our attention, it was an airship coming over the meadow. "What is that thing doing out here?"**

 **"A battleship?" I ask.**

 **"Still looking for more cities to burn," Howl tells me.**

 **"Is it the enemies or one of our own?" I ask him.**

 **"What difference does it make," Howl says, as a whirring sound from above as the battleship readies rows of bombs line up from the bottom of the battleship. "Those stupid murderers. We can't just let them fly off with all those bombs." He swipes his arm palm out towards the ship, across the air and the wings of the battleship jam up. Alarms start going off on the ship and Howl moves his arm back to his side seeming satisfied as men shout above us.**

 **"What did you do?" I ask him, looking at him with worry.**

 **"Just messed with it. It won't crash though." He says, he grabs ahold of his arm. I peer around him to look at his arm he was holding, I gasp at it as I see small feathers sprouting and his long nails. "Uh-oh. Here they come." He looks up at the ship and I follow his look to see flying monsters gliding out of the bottom of the ship, hissing and coming towards us. Howl grabs ahold of me and puts me into a bride style hold in his arms. "Those things are Suliman's henchmen. Let's go." He runs off, holding me tight to his chest as his wings burst from his back, his face sprout feathers too. "Alright, you're going in." I look at him my eyes widen as I look at him as if he were crazy. "I'll float you in as long as I can, then I'll divert them. Make sure you run through the air." He gets ready to drop me, I hold my breath and nod to him, he lets me slip out of his hold. I let out the breath as I gasp, and run through the air towards the castle as the door opens up for me the closer I get.**


	9. Serena Meets Disaster

**I jump through the door, I land on four paws, I had changed back into a puppy I look behind me to see the dial had changed back and Markl burst in the door and trips on my discarded clothes. "Serena, what happened?" Markl asks me looking up at me as I look down at him.**

 **"I am not suppose to be treated like this, I am a puppy, I could have been badly injured," I whine as Sophie walks into the door behind us, I look at her trying to show her I was not happy.**

 **"You need a bath again." Is all she says as I walk up the stairs into the room further.**

 **I was finally free of my bath as Sophie walks out the room she leaves me to walk downstairs on my own and I walk over to everyone before I went to bed. I say goodnight to everyone even the Witch and make sure Cal had all the wood he would need and I look over to see Heen sleeping on the floor. I walk over to him and take a pillow from the side and give it to him and run up the stairs to my room.**

 **I make up way onto my bed making myself comfortable on the quilt as I was still a puppy and I lie down to hear a knock on my door, Sophie opens the door and walks in she looks younger now, she was breaking her curse. "Serena, how are you feeling?" She asks me.**

 **"I'm feeling better, I keep changing into my human form more now, it looks like we're breaking our curses more frequently." I smile at her as she walks over to my bed and sits down, I get up and sit on her lap to be closer to her. I felt as if I was distancing myself from her more than ever since this happened to us. "I worry for Howl, Soph. Today he was talking like it was going to be the last time we would see him."**

 **"He wouldn't leave us, especially you. He loves you." Sophie says and I look at her.**

 **"Stop it. He doesn't love me. I may love him but it won't change anything."**

 **"I know you, Serena, you always think about the negative things about your life that will never happen."**

 **"I hope we can break these curses on us, Soph, we can be happy in our father's hat shop." Sophie just sighs seeming to be in defeat and I look up at her and I feel my stomach tense up as the sound of sirens are heard from outside.**

 **"What is that?" Sophie says picking me up in her arms and walking to my windows. "It's an air raid siren. It's still a long way off, but make sure not to open your window or go outside. Madame Suliman's henchmen are looking everywhere for this place." She warns me as I look at her confused as if she knew all that. "The Witch of The Waste told me," I knew there was no way she was going to know all that herself. She puts me back on my bed and I lie down and go to sleep and dream.**

 **The next day, Markl, Sophie and I walk into the meadow Howl took me to yesterday and we pick flowers and once we got back to the castle, we have Markl change all the unnecessary things in the castle into flower vases and we start to make it look more like a flower shop like Howl wanted us to. I got Markl to leave the castle to go out with Heen to advertise the new flower shop for a few hours as Sophie cleans the house again as I was talking to Cal on the hearth when I run up the stairs as my stomach starts to hurt and I turn human again and come back down in clothes as Markl runs through the door. "Serena, Sophie, there's a strange lady in here!" Markl shouts out, pointing to a woman in yellow walking inside. It was Mother, my jaw pops open in disbelief.**

 **"Mother!" Sophie and I ask.**

 **"Sophie, Serena!" Mother cries out, rushing towards us, crushing us into a hug on the ground. "Thank goodness you two are here! I searched everywhere for you two." She cries, the flowers Sophie was holding fly into the air and float around the room. "Oh, my, look at your face, you're so old!" As Sophie freezes in shock. "And Serena, you have dog ears and a tail! Everyone's saying that it's my fault you two left! You'll both forgive me, oh, won't you?" She asks me, wrapping her arms around us, she sobs into our shoulders.**

 **We take her arms and help lead her into the shop, we get her to sit down onto a chair to calm her nerves. "I barely recognise the place. Who's that woman?" She asks, noticing The Witch sitting in her chair by the fire, we lie and tell her that it was the landlady. "Huh? The landlady? Oh? I forgot to tell you! I got married again!" She says she rises her hand flashing her new diamond ring where her old ring our father gave her. "He's such a nice man, and he's filthy rich too, so we can all live together again! You won't have to work as a cleaning lady anymore," She tells us, she looks so hopeful I look at the floor as I try not to look at her. I love staying here and I knew Sophie did too, Sophie takes Mother's hand in hers.**

 **"That's alright, Mother. We actually like living here." She tells her.**

 **"Really?" Mother asks not looking disappointed and gasps. "I forgot! I've got a car waiting. I've gotta run." She says and runs off to the door, we follow her out. "Serena, Sophie, I'm so glad I found you." We close the door behind us.**

 **"I hope you and your new husband will be very happy," Sophie says to her.**

 **"Goodbye, Mother." We wave to her at the door, Markl walks over to us standing next to us, I look around the street to see all our neighbours leaving their homes with a few things and clothes on their back. "Wow. Look at all of them. If they keep leaving at this rate, the town will soon be empty." I comment.**

 **"Do you both want to leave too?" Markl asks us, we look down at him, he looks so sad staring out onto the street. "That lady said she wants you to live with her now."**

 **"Yes, well at least she cared enough to visit," Sophie says, I just look at her as if she was joking, no way something was up, I could feel it.**

 **"Don't leave, Serena, Sophie!" Markl shouts, trying to hug our legs at the same time. "I love you. You have to stay." He cries into my skirt, I bend down to Markl and pull him into my arms and hug him tight.**

 **"Oh, we love you too, Markl," I tell him hugging him closer looking at Sophie who was smiling at us.**

 **"We promise we'll stay." Sophie finishes.**

 **"Because we're a family now," Markl says, looking between both me and Sophie and hugging me tighter.**

 **"Yeah, because we're a family." I smile, I lean my head on top of his and look at Sophie.**

 **"Thank you, Serena, Sophie." Markl tightens his grip on my neck.**

 **It was finally nighttime, I sit down on the sofa and Markl moves over to me holding a newspaper, he sits next to me and I take him and put him onto my lap as he reads the newspaper. I look over to see Heen lying down on the floor as Sophie tries getting Cal going again, as The Witch sat in her normal seat smoking something gross. "But the newspaper said we won," Markl says holding up the newspaper as jump out of my own thoughts.**

 **"Only idiots believe what they read in the paper," The Waste of a Witch replies, as he blows more smoke into the air as she knocks the end of her cigar dropping ash into Sophie's clean floor. I look over at her, my eyes were getting watery as the smoke from the cigar drifts over to us.**

 **"That's so strange. I can't get Calcifer going." Soph says looking worried. I look at her and I feel Markl looking at me, I look down at him and smile trying to reassure him but on the inside I was worried, this could mean we're all in danger. I look to the door in thoughts of Howl, he could be the one in trouble and it would be affecting Cal. "Do you have to keep smoking that?" She asks the Witch. "It smells terrible."**

 **"Don't deny an old witch her pleasures, young lady." The Witch says taking another puff from her cigar.**

 **"Markl, please go crack open the window," Sophie asks him, looking over at us, he races out of my lap and moves to the window.**

 **"I wouldn't open that window, if I were you, dear." The Witch says, I almost forgot if Cal is weak then the castle isn't protected, I jump out of my seat and race to Markl before he can open the window and pick him up into my arms. "Calcifer's too weak right now to protect this place. Suliman's henchmen could get in." Just as the Witch finishes speaking the house shakes violently and the sound of an explosion comes from outside, I cry out as I keep Markl in my arms protecting him. I look up at the window my ears laying flat on top of my head as Markl buries his face into my shoulder in terror at the sounds outside.**

 **Sophie and I race outside of the shop into the yard with Markl still hiding in my shoulder as we look up to see a battleship flying over us. I pass Markl to Sophie, she takes him in her arms looking scared as much as I was. "Take him back inside, I'll check on the shop," I tell her and race to the shop door, I hear Markl call out for me as I race off.**


	10. Serena Meets Distruction

**I swing open the back door to the shop, I race to the front door and open it to see the destruction of my hometown and I step out onto the street to see buildings engulfed in roaring flames that reach up into the dark night sky. I look around to see people crying and yelling out in fear, I hear the sound of hissing, I turn my head sharply over my right shoulder to see the King's soldiers turning into those blob things. "There are bombs falling on us! Why don't you go put fires out instead!" I yell at them as they make their way towards me as I jump inside the shop closing the door behind me, I lock the door trying to slow them down.**

 **I run back to the back door and close that one as well as I hear the sounds of glass breaking as I get the back door shut. I rush out into the courtyard as a shadow crosses over us, I look up gasping to see a battleship above us and seems to be getting ready to drop a bomb on us. I press myself closer to the wall as I look up into the sky at the battleship as a bomb hurtled towards us. I felt the age old myth of my life flashing before me as it got closer and closer. Suddenly a dark object attaches itself to the bomb as it continues to fall towards us, as it gets closer I can make out feathers and it becomes clear what it was or rather who it was. "Howl! No!" I cry out to him, I feel tears fall down my face at the thought of him dying too. Another bomb explodes somewhere around the house, the impact of the blast held me further into the wall for support as stones and sticks go flying around me, I tuck head into my arms and face the walls to protect my face. It stops and I turn around to hear the sound of rustling behind me."Howl!2 I yell out happy to see him, I run over into his arms, I snake my arms around his neck embracing him closer to me. "You're alright!" I look at him to see his wings are crumpled as they slowly curl around us both, I look down on the ground to see the bomb still in one piece thanks to Howl.**

 **"I'm sorry, Serena. I should have gotten here sooner." He rasps out of breath, his bright blue eyes becoming dimmer as they look down at me.**

 **"You're alive! Oh, thank goodness!" I smile as I nuzzle into his chest feeling his warmth as he runs his fingers through my messy mud coloured hair. He wraps his arms tightly around me and starts to lead back inside, as the blob men following behind us slowly forming into human type figures still rounded and they were still wearing green suits as they try to reach us. We make it through the door as the blob men do too but are forcefully push away by Howl's magic.**

 **"Master Howl! Serena! You're okay!" Markl cheers, as Howl sets me down on a chair, Markl wiggles out of Sophie's hold running towards me and jumps up into my lap, I wrap my arms around him in comfort as she too comes over to me putting her arms around my shoulders. Howl walks over to Cal, he moves his hand over Cal and extracts an ink black blob out of Cal's mouth, it explodes into sparks by his magic.**

 **"Calcifer! You hang in there, now." Howl tells him, he walks off over to The Witch of The Waste with his hand pressed to his chest. "Tell me, was that cigar a gift from Madam Suliman by any chance?" He asks her, she blows the smoke from the cigar around his figure.**

 **"Howl, she fed me something gross. I feel sick." Cal groans, gagging in disgust.**

 **"Why, if it isn't Howl. I think you and I need to have a nice, long, heart to heart chat." The Witch says, lounging back in her chair, with her chin on her knuckles.**

 **"There's nothing I'd like more than that, but right now there's a war going on." He tells her with a sweet smile, he holds out his hand out to her. She blows out one more buff of smoke, before crushing the cigar into Howl's outstretched hand, it flares with magical sparks.**

 **"How unlike you, Howl, not running away anymore." She smirks at him.**

 **"Until later, then." He says, closing his hand around the remains of the cigar, with a bow to the Witch. He turns to the rest of us, as Markl was still in my lap hugging my waist and Sophie was hugging my neck, he takes my hand in his, looking into my eyes. "Stay here. Calcifer will protect you from the henchmen. I'll stand guard out front." He says, shifting around us then glides over to the door, I jump out of the chair putting Markl on the chair and race over to Howl.**

 **"Howl, wait! It's too dangerous out there!" I cry as I bury my face into his back, embracing him as if it would be the last time.**

 **"Another wave is coming." He tells me, turning his head. "And Calcifer 's too weak to stop the bombs."**

 **"Then let's run! Don't fight them, Howl!" I plead with him.**

 **"Sorry. I've had enough of running away, Serena. Now I've got something I want to protect. It's you." He claims I gasp as he turns around kissing my quickly on the lips, making me loosen my grip on him and he flies off outside.**

 **"No! Come back!" I yell out to him, I run after him outside, I look up at the sky where he soars off to, to keep us all safe. I lower my gaze to the shop to see the blob men reforming again, I nod with determination and rush back into the house. I close the door behind me hard and spin the dial to the Waste. I hold my breath and open the door a fraction to see outside, it was raining hard. I pull open the door, ignoring the wreckage of the castle as I try looking for Howl in the skies from the cliff, Markl and Sophie follow behind me, they take my hand in theirs as we try to comfort each other, I look over to Sophie to see she still hand her silver hair but she was back to her normal self.**

 **"That's where we were at the shop." She says worriedly. "Looks like Howl's in trouble." She points out to a ship flying above the shop, it catches on fire, I narrow my eyes as I try to step forward but Sophie stops me.**

 **"Howl, look out!" I shout out to him as the battleship goes down in flames, as tears fill my eyes. Once it reaches the ground it creates a loud booming sound and the battleship explodes, Markl tugs on my dress, I look down at him and pull him into my arms, he looks at me and asks what was going on but then Turnip head shows up, hopping over to Sophie's side. I keep looking ahead, till Sophie puts her hand on my shoulder gaining my attention, she drags us back inside, she asks for Markl's help, I put him down onto the floor so he could help. It seems she has a plan.**

 **"We have to move the portal away from the shop!" Sophie exclaims to Cal as both Markl and me. make it up the stairs, we pause in out movements looking at her, I think it over and smile in realisation.**

 **"That may work," I say in surprise looking at Sophie.**

 **"Are you both crazy? I can't move the portals without Howl's help!" Cal protests, he takes a piece of wood by him and shoves it into his mouth.**

 **"You have to at least try. If we don't break away, Howl will keep protecting the shop." I tell him as Sophie takes off her shawl walking over to the Witch and puts it around her. "I preferred him as a coward." I narrow my eyes, I look down to see Markl holding onto my dress and I bend my knees so I'm at his level.**

 **"Okay, we have to go now," Sophie tells the Witch softly, she helps the old woman up from her chair and hands her over to Markl so he can lead her outside.**

 **"We can't do that. It'll make us too vulnerable." Cal hisses.**

 **"We already are!" I hiss back at him. "If we don't move quick, Howl doesn't have a chance," I say softly. "And neither do you."**

 **"Sophie! Serena! They're about to bomb the shop!" Markl cries out, Sophie moves over to him and helps him to take the Witch outside faster.**

 **"Serena, get Calcifer!" Sophie orders me, I nod at her in confirmation, I pick up the black shovel that Howl had used before.**

 **"You're coming with us. Hop on." I tell him firmly, I move the shovel towards him as he moans in uncertainty.**

 **"I can't! It's impossible!" He stutters. "No one but Howl can take me out of this hearth."**

 **"There's no time to lose, Cal. We have to try something," I tell him, I pick him up myself. He yelps, as he clings onto the sides, then starts to yell at me in protest.**

 **"Oh! Don't do this! No, no!" He begs. "Help, help, help! Crazy lady with a shovel! Don't do this!" I get closer to the door. "If you take me out that door, the castle could collapse." He looks at me as if I was insane when I tell him it would be a good thing. I wait until Markl races back inside, telling me that they were already outside.**

 **"Alright, stand back," I tell him, then I start making my way carefully down the stairs.**

 **"Make sure I go out last, Serena. I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm sure it won't be good." He warns me, I slowly turn around and back out the entrance.**

 **As soon as the shovel had crossed outside the entrance to the castle disappears and the castle collapses in on itself.**

 **"I told you it would collapse!" Cal yells at us, I notice something going on outside with a gasp. "Rain! Rain!" Cal tries to cover himself poorly, Sophie asks Markl to stay with the Witch as the rest of us go find a way inside the castle. Markl runs off with Turnip and Heen following behind him and a loud sound of engines roaring above us reaches our ears.**

 **"That ship's heading towards town!" Sophie yells in alarm, I look to the skies in worry. "We have to tell Howl that we're not connected to the shop anymore!"**

 **"How?" I ask her, we had to shout above the noise, and the pounding of the rain on the broken castle. "The castle isn't moving anymore, we're disconnected from the shop and Howl is flying around somewhere in the air!" I ask her as I find a way out of the rain and Sophie yells back for Markl.**

 **We make it inside and I place Cal down where the hearth used to be, and we quickly give him some wood from the castle, I try ignoring his complaints of it being damp. Sophie puts a stool in front of the hearth for the Witch to rest, she tells Markl to hurry up inside.**

 **"The castle's a wreck." He comments as he makes his way inside with the Witch.**

 **"Told you we should have stayed put. Howl and I could have handled it." Cal tries to say, as he munches on a stick that Heen had given him.**

 **"We have to tell Howl that it's not connected anymore. Move the castle and take us to him." I order him, as Sophie stood next to me.**

 **"What?" Cal asks, avoiding droplets of water.**

 **"I know you can do it. I've never see a fire with more spark." We both say together with a grin on our faces, as we look down at him.**

 **"But there's no - but there's no chimney here. And I keep getting dripped on. And the wood's all damp." Cal moans.**

 **"They say that the best blaze brightest when circumstances are at their worst," I tell him, it was a quote from one of my many books.**

 **"Yeah, but no one really believes that." Cal rolls his eyes. "Come on, let's be honest."**

 **"Cal! We don't have time! Take us to Howl! What's the point of helping you break your contract if Howl is dead!" I yell at him as he tries to hide from me in the wood from fear. The Witch makes herself comfortable on the stool in front of Cal and looks at him.**

 **"What a pretty little fire." She gazes deep at Cal making him uncomfortable.**

 **"Alright, I need something of yours, either one of you can, it doesn't matter." He tells us.**

 **"Why's that?" Sophie asks him.**

 **"I can't do it by myself. How about your eyes?" He asks, I look at Sophie and she looks at me with shock and we shake our heads.**

 **"What about this?" Sophie volunteers, holding up her long braid. I put my hand on her shoulder knowing she loves her long hair.**

 **"I've got something." I tell her, I reach my arms around to my neck and take off my necklace, I show it to Cal. "Will this do?" I ask him, he reaches out with a fire formed hand and takes my necklace from my hand.**

 **"You can't Serena! That is your most prized possession, you love that thing so much." Sophie argues.**

 **"I love Howl more and Father would understand," I tell her and Cal moves the dangling necklace over his gaping mouth and drops it into his mouth swallowing it whole. He starts to glow a dark purple then shoots up with a shriek to what was once the ceiling and picks up the ceiling with his larger fire demon form. We watch in awe at the power as he lifts up the ceiling and parts above us fell around us. A part of the floor behind us starts falling apart almost taking Markl with it, finally, the castle starts to move down the rocks on the go onto our knees and look out to see the Market Chipping, Turnip hops along with us under the castle.**

 **"Thanks, Calcifer. You're fantastic!" We grin wide.**

 **"Imagine what I could have done with your eyes. Or your heart." He tells us, his voice echoing.**

 **"That's it! You've got Howl's, heart!" The Witch exclaims in happiness. "I found it!"**

 **"I can see Howl down there! Looks like he's trapped!" Sophie yells out, that gains my attention, we gasp as lightning strikes where Howl is.**

 **"Cal, hurry!" I yell I turn around to face him only to see the Waste of a Witch grabbing at Cal's shovel, pulling it from under the wood as she reaches out for Howl's heart. "Put that back!" I scream at her, I jump up racing towards them and wrestle with her to get it out of her hands.**

 **"Howl's heart, it's mine!" She yells, dropping the shovel as Sophie grabs her around the waist from the back. Cal loses control of the castle and I gasp, letting go as the flames burn my hands. The castle starts stumbling down the hill and the witch gets thrown against the wall, letting Cal's flames engulf her.**

 **"Put it back now!" I order her, I catch Markl and hold him tightly as he almost slides off the floor.**

 **"It's hot! Oh, it's burning me!" She cries out, and I stand there once I know Markl has a good grip on the floor.**

 **"Let go!" I yell at her, I try prying her hands open to get the heart out of her tight grip, but it was too hot. "You're on fire." As was I.**

 **"No, it's mine! It's mine! It's mine!" She yells.**

 **"No, it's not! It's Howl!" I yell at her, then gasp as water gets dumped onto us. I cry out as the flames I cry out as the flames turn a light blue which means danger for Howl and Cal. Cal's words repeat in my head of how if Cal dies so does Howl, I look down at the blue flames as tears fill my eyes. I run to my sister standing near us with a bucket in her hands and push her to the floor and gasp as the floor of the castle falls out from under us. The castle starts falling apart around us, Heen jumps into Sophie's lap as we fall screaming down the depths of the cavern.**

 **"Serena! Sophie!" Markl screams, reaching out his hand. I land hard on the ground, I cover my head and duck as things go flying from around the castle. I stand up, I look around at the area, it fazed me slightly seeing the damage, it was a wonder how we weren't dead, I look at Sophie and hold my hand out to her, she takes my hand not a word between us. I look ahead not making eye contact with her, I could smell the salt from her tears, she knows it was a mistake that she can't take back and I know that she's sorry and she regrets her actions, I felt broken at the thought of never seeing Howl again, him leaving me, I couldn't bare the pain anymore as I felt tears streak down my cheeks. Heen wheezes, he trots up to Sophie and me, I felt sobs rack my ribcage as I just let go as I sobbed closing my eyes. Heen nudges my hand with the ring on, I open my eyes and look to see the ring is glowing a blue light unlike the last time when it was red, I gasp in shock gaining Sophie's attention.**

 **"It's moving. Is Howl still alive?" I ponder, I move my hand to my face looking at the ring in hope. "Can you lead me to Howl?" I ask it, my tears drying up. The blue light was leading me to a metal heap, I look at Sophie with confusion she was sharing the same look on her face, but I follow the light and get Sophie to help me move the metal to find a door behind it. It was the front door. I move my shaking hand towards the door and open it, and gasp seeing the darkness behind the door instead of the stone cliff which was meant to be there, and without a second thought, I reach out into the darkness towards whatever was pulling me.**

 **I walk into the darkness, I felt safe in the darkness like I was being protected and I feel like I'm walking in the air again, like when I first met Howl that rush of feelings gave me hope. Sophie and Heen quickly catch up with me and we appear inside a small cottage, I felt something familiar with the place, I look around and I knew what it was. "Howl's private cottage, but why would the ring lead us here?" I ask, looking down at the ring in question to see that the ring was had faded then I look up at my sister before searching the place until Heen scratching at the door. I rush to the door, I open it to see that there were no flowers like before, but there were shooting stars in the sky above us, they were landing all around us on the ground. I felt a tight grip on my finger, it was the ring it was tightening on my finger, the ring was shaking so hard it was almost rattling.**

 **Far across the field a star bursts, lighting up the form of a young boy wandering around the meadow. "That's Howl," I gasp as more shooting stars rain down on us. I remember when I was at Madam Suliman's of the vision she showed us of the stars dancing around us back at her greenhouse, I look out at the meadow and jump down the stairs and try getting closer to the younger Howl as Sophie and Heen try catching up to me and Sophie calls my name. "We're in Howl's childhood. This is how Howl made the contract with Calcifer!" I say, ignoring Sophie's gasp. I glance over to the lake where a star bursts beside me, it runs as fast as it can on the water below it before it sinks into the depths. "When a shooting star falls, it dies." I pause in my thought as I feel myself sinking into the black mud, I stumble backward, just one last shooting star shoots across the night sky, it lands in the young Howl's open palms. The young Howl seems to be speaking to the star, then he opens his mouth and swallows the star, then it hits me what the Witch had said in her note for Howl and it was all true. The ring grows tighter on my finger, as Sophie takes my hand in a tight grip, the young Howl gasps in pain clutching his chest, he coughs as a flame came out into his hands. The ring bursts into pieces and the ground opens up below us, we start to slowly fall into the hole. "Howl! Calcifer!" I cry out as Howl looks our way, the flame in his hands poking its head out in curiosity. "It's us, Serena and Sophie! I know how to help you now! Find us in the future!" I yell out to them as the ground takes us down, soon Heen jumps in too.**

 **We fall from the sky till it falls into darkness again, and Heen starts walking like when we first entered that door, Tears stream down from my eyes, as I smile and keep on walking in the darkness. "I just can't seem to stop crying,|" I wipe my eyes of all the tears, the door appears in front of us.**


	11. Serena Meets The End

**I walk out of the door quickly, I pause in my steps when it disappears behind us, I freeze in my stop even stop breathing as I stare in front of me again. It was Howl, he was crouching down on the ground and breathing heavily in his bird form. "Howl," I say softly, while slowly walking towards him, I move his feathers away from his face, his eyes look so dead, they stare at me so lifeless as blood drips from his wounds. "I'm sorry. Did I come too late? I didn't mean to make you wait this long." I apologise, leaning forwards and gently press my lips to his, my ears were flat on my head as I felt scared and sad for Howl. "I need you to take us to Calcifer if you can." He outstretches his foot out on the ground, I climb on with my sister at my side, I watch as he unfolds his wings and takes off into the sky above as we clutch onto him tight.**

 **We made it to the castle or what was left of it, it was still walking on the edge of the cliff with only the door and two legs still together, we land gently, Sophie and I step off as Howl falls to his side. The feathers and bird like features start disappearing from Howl's body until he was a man again. I move towards him and turn him over onto his back, I move some of his hair off of his face as Markl comes over to us. "Is he dead?" He asks me, while Sophie stands to the side watching the Witch.**

 **"No, Markl," I tell him, then stand up and walk over to the Witch who was still clutching onto Howl's heart for dear life, whimpering and trying to hide it from my view. "Howl needs that back now," I state, kneeling before her and outstretch my hand to her asking for his heart.**

 **"Don't look at me. I don't have it. I don't know what you're talking about." She mumbles, looking away from me. I move towards her and pull him into a tight embrace.**

 **"Please. Please give it back," I beg her.**

 **"You really want it that badly?" She asks me. I nod my head slowly against her shoulder, whispering a soft 'yes' before pulling away. "Alright, then. You'd better take good care of it. Here, dear." She says, she hands over the pulsing blue flame over to me.**

 **"Thank you, you have a big heart," I tell her, cupping the heart in my hands, I slowly get up from the floor. Sophie takes my place bending down to her level and hugging her. I walk over to Howl's still form and slowly bend down next to him, leaving Sophie with the Witch and Turnip. "Cal," I call him as the fire demon looks up at me.**

 **"Serena, I'm so tired." He whispers.**

 **"If I give Howl back his heart, what will happen to you?" I ask him.**

 **""I'll be okay if you do it. I think. Sophie dumped water on me and Howl and I both survived, though you did block most of it."**

 **"I better get on with it then," I say softly closing my eyes and I feel the thumping coming from Howl's heart in my hands. "It's fluttering like a bird. And it's so warm." I smile looking down at Cal.**

 **"It's still just the heart of a child." Cal points out.**

 **"Please, let Cal live." I pray. "And please help Howl take his heart back." I place my hands on Howl's chest and push Cal into his chest. Humming came from the spot as the sparks flew through my hands, followed by a shimmering light.**

 **"I'm alive! I'm alive! Look, I'm free!" Cal cheers, I smile at his free spirit as he was so overjoyed, he jumps around in the air and flies off but we can still hear him cheering for his new found freedom. The sound of Howl's moaning, instantly it brings my attention back to him until a creaking sound comes from the castle also gains my attention.**

 **"It can't stand without Calcifer!" Markl yells out as Sophie pulls him down to the floor and I make sure Howl didn't move as we slide down the edge of the mountain, all of us were screaming. Turnip jumps down in front of us trying to slow us down. His pole snaps but it does successfully slowing us down.**

 **"Turnip!" Sophie shouts out in concern, then we slide off the side of the mountain and got stuck between two large rocks that are holding us up and stopping us from falling. I sit up, gently pulling Markl up from his place buried at my side as my sister was preoccupied with Turnip Head and his broken pole. "His pole snapped! Are you alright? We'll get you a new poll, ok?" She promises him, her eyes softening as she looks at him. "You saved us, Turnip." She says, leaning down to his face she kisses his cheek. I smile to myself but it turns into confusion as Turnip jerks up into the air and grows legs and arms, his face was turning human, he was morphing into a human his scarecrow suit now turns gold and his hair was blond, Sophie's type.**

 **"Thank you, Sophie," He says with a bow. "I'm the prince who's been missing from the neighbouring kingdom. Somehow I got that blasted spell put on me." He tells her as I try not to pay any attention to their conversation and focus on Howl.**

 **"I know that spell. A kiss from your true love breaks it." The Witch comments with a sly smiling painted onto her lips as a giggle escapes my lips, my sister was having trouble keeping her red face out of view causing another giggle to escape my lips.**

 **"That's right. If it weren't for Sophie, I would have been a scarecrow for the rest of my life." He states, my hand moves, but it wasn't me who moved it was Howl, I look down at Howl to see he was moving around, seems to be waking up, he groans as his eyes flutter open and slowly sits up.**

 **"What's going on? What am I doing here?" He asks, groaning as he holds his chest, it must have been his heart. "I feel terrible like there's a weight in my chest." He says, lying back down.**

 **"A heart's a heavy burden," I tell him with a grin, I lower my head slightly to his and place a light kiss on his forehead, I move my arms around his neck feeling some much happiness building up inside me. I feel his arm snake around my waist pulling me tight to his chest, we swap places, I was now on the floor and he was above me he lowers down and our lips connect, slowly our lips sync, we're soon interrupted by a squeal from Markl stopping us. We separate and look to him, his eyes are being covered by the Witch since it seems Sophie too was kissing her prince. I chuckle, I get up from Howl's grip, I walk towards my pup, I take him in my arms as my tail wraps around Howl's neck and I walk back over as Markl relaxes in my lap and Howl sits up with his knee bent up.**

 **"You should go home and tell your King to stop this dumb war," The Witch advises the Prince as Sophie walks over to us.**

 **"I have to say, I am liking the new hair colour," I tell her, smiling glad that I had stopped her from cutting it.**

 **"Serena, thank you for sacrificing Father's necklace," Sophie says, I close my eyes as I feel Howl's eyes on me.**

 **"I know it was worth it, For finding Howl and for your lovely long hair," I tell her, I move my hand to her long braid and undo the bow, the ribbon in my hand as her hair falls down in waves, I get up with Markl in my arms as I tie the bow around her neck and unbutton the top of her boring dress. "There now it's finally worth the sacrifice, and look your prince charming is looking at you with more love in his eyes. Now go to your man." I tell her and look back at Howl and I saw the look in his eyes, it was guilt about me sacrificing my precious necklace to Cal to find him.**

 **"Yes, that's exactly what I'll do. One thing you can always count on is that hearts change." He says as Sophie walks towards him, hugging him around the waist. "Once this war is over, I shall return for you, my love." He promises her, he looks down at her and they kiss quickly.**

 **"I am looking forward to it." Sophie blushes bright red, I giggle moving closer to Howl with Markl snuggling into my chest.**

 **We finally make it up the hill, the Prince goes off bouncing on his pole across the sky. "So can I laugh at you for falling for a Prince or can I just get to say I told you so," I ask her, she looks confused. "I told you, you were beautiful and you just didn't see it." She shakes her head at me and I walk towards her with Markl still in my arms, I look over into the sky as a familiar shining light spirals towards us.**

 **"Hey, it's Calcifer!" Markl says pointing out to him.**

 **"You didn't have to come back, Calcifer," Howl tells him with a grin, I step forwards him and open my palms for the fire demon.**

 **"I kind of missed you guys." He admits, looking away pouting. "And it looks like it's gonna rain."**

 **"We missed you too, Cal," I tell him, I bend down to kiss him, laughing when he turns pink looking like a blush.**

 **A few weeks later, the war had finally ended thanks to Sophie's boyfriend, the battleships had finally gone back to their homes, but we had nothing to worry about we were floating above them in our new flying castle made from parts from battleships with other new things added in and we added on a few more hearths for Cal to make it easier for him to move the castle around. I ( cgi/set?id=225049924) was standing on a long balcony, watching the clouds roll by us as Howl stands behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist and my tail wrapped around his waist. I look behind me at Howl and looks into his stunning blue eyes and I couldn't imagine my life without him. It was an amazing life we had together, Cal and I would talk while Howl was away on his wizard business or training Markl, he was calling me his mum now, it made me happy as we were a family. I see Sophie every month with her boyfriend, they were happy together like Howl and I. I felt a tap on my shoulder getting me out of my thoughts, I look over my shoulder at Howl to see him looking at me with concern. "It's nothing I was just thinking about all that had happened that's all," I tell him smiling up at him. I lean in close and press my lips to his and pull away looking into his eyes again and I feel at home. "Marry me," I ask him and he looks shocked but suddenly it turns into a giant grin.**

 **"I thought it was the man who was supposed to ask the woman?" He jokes and pulls me into a long kiss.**

 **"I hope this is a yes?" I laugh looking at him.**

 **"Most definitely." He smiles down at me and pulls me into a kiss and that is the end of my story of how I met my your father.**

 **"But mum what happened to Granny Waste?" My daughter Alice (fa120e98b1e0f9391ff5e72007e0b6) asks me as I ( cgi/set?id=225050206) get up from my chair next to her bed.**

 **"Yeah mum, what happened?" My son Aaron (IMG_0470)asks again.**

 **"She lives back in mine and your Aunt Sophie's home town where our shop is and she is very happy," I tell them, I walk over to them I lean down to Alice and tuck her in and give her a kiss on the forehead then move to Aaron and do the same. "Now you have a busy day with Markl so sleep tight."**

 **"Goodnight Mummy." My twins say before they drift off to sleep, I turn to the door to see Howl leaning against the doorframe with a small smile on his face looking at our twins with their brown hair like mine and their piercing blue eyes like his and dog ears and tail that they got from me. I love them with all my heart and Howl does too. We soon got married after I asked him and we had the twins that was 7 years ago, they were 6 now and starting to learn magic with Howl and Markl who was their big brother, because they are my pups.**

 **"Goodnight my puppies." I smile and wrap my arms around Howl as he does the same.**

 **"Goodnight daddy." They say and Howl's heart starts beating faster, the same every night.**

 **"Goodnight my little angels." Howl smiles and he turns off the light and we close the door behind us after one last look at our angels.**


	12. Author Note: Polyvore Petition

Hey everyone please I'm sorry it's not a chapter but it is also very important I feel as one of the best sites has now shut down without a word which is Polyvore and I was a member as I love creating outfits on there and has many of my outfits on there for my previous stories and I couldn't wait to make more for my future outfits which at the moment is impossible, so please petition so that we can do something to get it back! Thank you, everyone, from DeadGirlEternal!

p/former-polyvore-users-creative-minds-bring-back-polyvore?recruiter=842881762&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_ _milestone_share_ask_


	13. Outfits

Hey, guys, thank you so much for reading my story and just wanted to let you know that I have saved and now uploaded all my outfits from Polyvore onto my own website strictly for the purpose of showing you what my characters look like so please the link is on my profile and have a look.


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